CLIMBING PLANTS 139 



of the landscape was grievously impaired. In rural 

 England it will be allowed that the existence of hedge- 

 rows is a great addition to the interest and charm of the 

 country-side. 



How much of that charm is due to climbing plants is 

 hardly perhaps realised. A dense growth of hedgerow 

 is always attractive, both in itself and because of the 

 number of birds which are attracted by its shelter and 

 repose ; but the interest is enhanced a hundredfold by 

 the various species of wild flowers which trail and 

 clamber over the brushwood. To see a hedgerow at its 

 best the dog-roses and honeysuckle should be in bloom 

 and the wild hop hanging in careless festoons over the 

 tangled bushes ; or perhaps later on in the season when 

 the nuts are ripe and the berries are reddening and the 

 white feathery plumes of the old-man 's-beard lend 

 grace and glory to the scene. 



There are many species of climbers and they belong 

 to various orders of British plants. Some of the older 

 botanists were wont to class them all together as 

 " herbes that clamber up," which " have need to be 

 propped up for they stand not of themselves " ; but in 

 truth the capacity for climbing is no indication of 

 affinity. Various, too, are the contrivances whereby 

 climbing plants manage to fulfil their destiny. Some 

 like the hop and the honeysuckle climb by the simple 

 method of twisting ; some as the wild Clematis are leaf- 

 climbers ; others like the white bryony and some of the 

 vetches produce tendrils ; while others again develop 

 hooks and prickles like the brambles and the goose- 

 grass, or are root-climbers as the ivy. It is curious, 

 too, to notice how certain climbing plants differ in the 

 habit of revolution. Some revolve in a course opposed 



