74 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



of each lobe of the leaf, and P. Thomsonii with reddish 

 leaves claret-purple on the underside. 



In foliage the most delicate and attractive and in 

 fruit among the most beautiful of all climbers is 

 Ampelopsis aconitifolia and its variety palmiloba. 

 The leaves are finely dissected and the fruit which is 

 freely produced changes as it ripens from yellow to 

 blue and pale purple. The closely allied A. humuli- 

 folia, A. micans, A. heterophylla and A. brevipedun- 

 culata, all from China, have clear turquoise blue fruits. 

 A remarkable species is A. megalophylla, a new-comer 

 also from China, with much divided leaves a yard 

 across. 



Among the Birthworts (Aristolochia) are several 

 hardy climbers well worth growing for the sake of 

 their foliage; mention may be made of A. tomen- 

 tosa and A. durior (better known as A. sipho) whose 

 curious flowers gave origin to its vernacular name of 

 Dutchman's Pipe, natives of eastern North America, 

 and their relatives A. moupinensis from western 

 China and A. Kaempferi from Japan. The flowers of 

 these plants though not conspicuous are very interest- 

 ing and their fertilization is effected by flies. 



The Moonseeds too have fine foliage, and their 

 curiously ridged and curved seeds are enclosed in 

 fleshy blue-black fruits. Three species are hardy, 



