230 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



and mounts through the dense leafy gloom of the forest till it reaches some 

 region of unobstructed light, overtopping the foliage of the tree by which 

 it climbed. With that it changes its tactics, the whole plant being trans- 

 formed as by the touch of a magician's wand. The stem rapidly strengthens 

 and increases in size, flattening and moulding itself over the larger branches 

 of its supporter ; and presently it sends down numerous slender, dependent, 

 and individual branches from the upper part, at the same time throwing off 



its now useless lower leaves 

 and roots. Last of all, the 

 plant'' separates from its 

 host leaving the tree per- 

 haps in a dying state and 

 becomes a self-supporting 

 withy shrub, capable of 

 producing flowers and nec- 

 tar, and, in due season, 

 abundance of ripe fruit. 



Another extraordinary 

 climber is one of the Climb- 

 ing Palms. " Though no 

 thicker than your finger, 

 it will be found," says 

 Mr. P. H. Gosse inOmphalos, 

 u almost a quarter of a mile 

 in length. This is a kind 

 of Cane {Calamus *) ; its 

 slender jointed and polished 

 stem is encased in the 

 closely sheathing and tubu- 

 lar bases of the leaves, 

 which are spiny on their 

 midribs, spiny on their 

 pinnae, and horridly spiny 

 on the long and tough 

 whip-lash in which the 

 point of each leaf termin- 

 ates. This lengthened 

 cord is studded, at intervals of a few inches, with whorls of stout and 

 acute prickles which are hooked backwards, and perform an important 

 part in the economy of the plant. We see how it sprawls along the 



* The Calami supply most of the walking-canes of commerce, of which some twenty 

 millions, valued at about 40,000, are annually imported. Mr. Gosse was a careful observer, 

 but " almost a quarter of a mile " is a surprising length for any of these Calami. The 

 statement needs confirmation. 



FIG. 286. SPURGES (Euphorbia). 



To the left is Euphorbia imndicornis, in the middle E. abyssinica, to 

 the right E. spinosa; the first two African, the third European. 



