THE KUDZU VINE AND OTHER CLIMBERS 



Climbers well known as morning glories, of which is 

 here presented a beautiful photograph of a species intro- 

 duced from Japan (Fig. 9). There is an almost end- 

 less variety to the flowers of this familiar climber, and 

 they run all the way from pure white to a rich, deep pur- 

 ple, or some of the crimsons and deep blues. The flow- 

 ers of the wild trailing bindweed, however, are pure 

 white, though they may be pink-tinged sometimes. In 

 open meadows, over old fences along the roadside, and 

 sometimes in the woods, this vine climbs over every- 

 thing in its way ; and when it bears many flowers, it 

 is by no means an unattractive plant. There are several 

 species of it in the family to which it belongs, as the 

 Upright Bindweed, the Hedge Bindweed, the White, 

 the Trailing, the Small, and perhaps others. 



Mathews speaks of the common dodder as "a miser- 

 able parasite often troublesome in gardens, but found in 

 low, damp, shady situations. It climbs high upon other 



539 



LEAVES AND SEEDS OF THE WILD YAM 



Fig. 12 These seed pods, of a very pale tan color, are notably 

 conspicuous objects in the woods where the vine grows. Photo- 

 graph by the author, reduced. 



SEED PODS OF THE WILD YAM 



''g'- 13 Note that the tendrils of the. plant are not very abun- 

 dant, nor of marked clinging capacity. Ofteil the small, green- 

 ish-yellow flowers are present with the 3-valvcd seed capsules, 

 as is the case in the cut. 



plaijt8,.by .t^illjiig closely about their .stalks.^n<I- -eifhaust- 

 ing their juices through" "a '11i'ousaTil7I'''tmy-'"9itckQ^.;^ Its 

 thread-like, twisting stem varies in color from dull yel* "'"'<! 

 low to dull orange, it is crowded with bunches of ciny 

 dull white bell-shaped flowers having five lobes. The 

 calyx is greenish white. All the dodders start at first 

 froin the ground, but finally securing a convenient 

 plant upon which to climb, the root in the earth dies 

 and they become parasite." 



A few years ago I ran across a mass of these plants 

 along the old Georgetown Canal, at Washington. None 

 of them had any hold upon the ground, while their 

 mtlrderous, twisting stems were everywhere twined about 

 the upright stalks of a big group of artichokes, then in 

 full flower. Some of these latter already exhibited the 

 effects of the juice-sucking plants that were clinging to 

 them, and all were probably doomed to perish as vie- 



