676 



CLIMBING PLANTS. 



trailing, it has come within the range of a wood, it pushes its stiff, folded, spire-like 

 leaves between the lower branches of the trees, and as these leaves unfold and bend 

 outwards, they form strong supports or barbs by which the cord-like stem is 

 anchored above in the branches of the tree {cf. fig. 94, p. 363). Under favourable 

 conditions the stem can grow up to the tops of the trees, its new leaves always 

 anchoring thus in the branches above. Frequently the free end of a rotang shoot 



Fig. 157.— Shoot-apices of three species of Rotang. 

 ^ Dcemonorops hygropkilus. ^ Calamus exteiuus ; witli inflorescence, s Desmoncus polyacanthus ; much reduced. 



gi'ows from tree to tree — now ascending, now descending. It is shoots of this kind 

 which attain to lengths unequalled by any other plant. There are credible state- 

 ments according to which such rotang stems, with an almost uniform thickness of 

 only 2-4 cm., have reached a length of 200 metres. 



We must not omit to mention that most, if not all, plants which weave into the 

 thicket of other plants ai-e equipped with barbed spines, prickles, and bristles, which 

 assist them in maintaining themselves at the heights once reached. The goat's 

 thorn is provided with horizontally-projecting spines; in the roses and brambles 



