48 



FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



climbing. If you look at a number of tbese tendrils, 

 you may find one bearing a leaf, as if the tendril, in a 

 moment of forgetfulness, had behaved like a branch. 

 In the same way we know that the tendril of a grape- 

 vine is just a flower stalk changed into a hand, because 

 we find grapes on the tendril. If the tendril of the 

 Virginia creeper finds a piece of wire netting, it winds 

 round it tightly ; but if it touches a wall the tendrils 



Tendril of Virgmia creeper bearing a leaf by a Japanese creeper 



freak. showing the 



sticky discs. 



put out little discs that stick to the wall. Very pretty 

 are the Httle green discs of the Japanese ivy creeper. 

 These turn red after a time, and stick so firmly that 

 they can hold up the weight of a very large plant. 

 Try to pull them off, and you will find that a thousand 

 nails could not hold up the plant so well. "With the 

 help of these tiny discs, a single plant can cover the 

 whole side of a large house. 



7. Similar to the plants with tendrils, are the plants 

 that climb by air-roots, like the ivy. The ivy feeds 

 through earth-roots and leaves, like another plant; 



