HOW SOME PLANTS GET UP IN THE WORLD 105 



136a. This recalls the fact that there are various disguises of 

 leaves. Leaflets may be represented by tendrils. If the pupil 

 will study the position of tendrils of the grape, he will find that 

 they occupy the places of flower-clusters. (Has he not seen a 

 bunch of grapes with one or two ten- 

 drils protruding?) Let him determine 

 the morphology of the tendrils of cu- 

 cumbers and melons. Observe, also, 

 how the garden nasturtium, or tropaeo- 

 lurn, climbs. 



137. The trumpet creeper, 

 poison ivy, true 



or English ivy, 



and some other 



plants, climb 



by roots 



which attach 



themselves to 



the support. 



Observe that such roots prefer to 



occupy the dark places or chinks 



on the building or bark upon 



which they climb. 



138. Some plants are mere scramblers, as some 

 tall forms of blackberries, the galiums, some 

 of the smart -weed tribe or polygonums. Such 

 plants are often provided with various hooks or 

 prickles by means of which they are secured to 

 the support as they grow; but it by no means 

 follows that all hooks or prickles on plants serve 



