62 Chapters in Modern Botany CHAP. 



Creeping plants, such as Ground-ivy (Nefieta Glechoma) 

 and Strawberry, spread along the ground or up the 

 woodside bank, sending out long shoots which are at 

 intervals rooted in the soil. These suggest the next set 

 of climbing plants the root-climbers, such as the common 

 Ivy. These ascend slowly, fixing themselves by rootlets 

 which grow away from the light and become glued to the 

 stems of trees or to the surfaces of rocks. We all know 

 the little brown roots by means of which the ivy clings 

 so closely that if you pull a piece off by force the roots 

 often break at their origin from the stem and not from 

 their attachment. There are many other root-climbers, 

 such as Tecoma radicans common in the Southern States, 

 some species of Bignonia, and many Figs (Fzcus repens, 

 etc.). The beautiful night-flowering Cactus (Cereus nycti- 

 flord) , often called " queen of the night," also affords a not 

 uncommon transition to these true climbers ; scrambling 

 as it does over rocks, and freely giving off at almost any 

 portion of its surface adventitious roots which soon fix the 

 plant, but no doubt also have a genuinely absorbent func- 

 tion as well. 



The twiners, such as the Hop and the Honeysuckle, 

 differ from those already mentioned, for as they grow their 

 stems have a marked power of movement, bending and 

 bowing to all sides, and thus encircling their support. 

 Most twine in a definite direction ; thus the hop twines in 

 a right-handed spiral (i.e. with the sun, or with the hands 

 of a watch lying face upwards), while the majority resemble 

 the French Bean (Phaseolus imiltiflorus) in winding to 

 the left. The Bitter-sweet (Solanum Dulcamara, seems 

 to twine indifferently in either direction, and the stem of 

 the Chili-nettle {Loasa) may change its direction in the 

 course of its climbing. 



The next two sets of climbing plants are closely united. 



