THE FLOWERS OF THE HEDGE-CLIMBERS 



537 



veins. The female fertile flowers are 

 generally to be found in pairs ; they are 

 much smaller, and different in shape 

 from the barren ones ; the berries, which 



may be mentioned " Travellers' Joy," 

 " Old Man's Beard." " White Vine," 

 and " Virgin's Bower." Its appearance 

 when in fiower and in fruit is so different 



CLEMATIS IN FLOWER. 



appear in late summer and autumn, are 

 at first green, then 3'ellow, and finally 

 bright red ; they are very poisonous. The 

 foliage is somewhat coarse and rough, 

 but very pretty in appearance ; it figures 

 frequently in old Gothic carving. The 

 plant is commonly called Wood Vine 

 or Hedge \'ine. 



CLEMATIS 



A plani of many names is the Wild 

 Clematis {Clematis vitalha), amongst which 



that some might easily mistake it f(ir 

 two different plants, and they may 

 readily be pardoned also for not recog- 

 nising it as one of the Buttercup family 

 {Rannnciilacecc). 



We have dealt with twining plants which 

 grow by twisting their stems round sup- 

 ports, and also with those that raise them- 

 selves by means of tendrils ; the Clematis 

 is intermediate between these two, for 

 it is a leaf chmber. The leaf has a sen- 

 sitive stalk, which revolves, and if it 



