CLIMBING PLANTS. 673 



in the same manner. If these hedge-shrubs have not the opportunity of inter- 

 weaving in the branches of trees, &c., they are obhged themselves to form a scaffold- 

 ing. Their manner of growth resembles that already described, except that the 

 shoots usually remain shorter, and the whole plant consequently appears more 

 compressed. The erect shoots at first mounting vigorously upwards form, as 

 they become lignified, flat arches, bent over so that their apices almost trail upon 

 the ground. The upper portions of these arches give rise next year to short flower- 

 ing branches and to long vigorous shoots, which give rise to new arches. The free 

 ends of the old arches dry up, and fresh arches come to lie above the dried remains. 

 In the following year new arch-like shoots proceed from the last-formed ones. 

 This being repeated year after year, an impenetrable natural hedge gradually rises, 

 which grows continually higher and higher, since the stumps of the old, dried-up 

 branches, whose ends have stopped growing, form supports for the younger shoots. 

 It is also a very common occurrence for these hedge-shrubs, when they have become 

 old, to develop suckers from their roots, which grow up, thin and slender, between 

 the undergrowth formed of the old, dried-up arches, which they use as a support. 

 This may be seen especially in the barberry, sea-buckthorn, mock-orange, roses, 

 jessamine and the elm-leaved spiraeas. 



This property of forming hedges has long been familiar to agriculturalists, who 

 are close observers of nature. Several such plants are used for the purpose of 

 inclosing portions of land; thorny species are especially suited for the purpose, 

 the so-called " quickset hedges ". Gardeners, too, make use of this peculiarity 

 of hedge-weaving shrubs when they plant species with beautiful flowers close 

 against a trellis-work, which is soon quite overgrown with their vigorous shoots. 

 The so-called climbing- roses in particular are used with the best results for covering 

 trellis-work against the fronts of buildings, and it is remarkable how quickly 

 they grow without assistance right up to the gables of the houses. Some climbing 

 roses {e.g. Rosa setigera) have this remarkable peculiarity, that their new shoots at 

 first seek the darkest places, turning their apices away from the bright sunshine, 

 growing into the shaded nooks behind the trellis-work, and not inclining again 

 towards the light until they are fully grown. In this way the advantage is obtained 

 that the shoots originally turning from the light enter the gaps of the undergrowth 

 and of the trellis-work, while later on, when lateral branches arise from them, they 

 are excellently supported. 



Generally resembling the woody stems observed in hedge-builders are those of 

 several undershrubs which do not become lignified. The shoot growing up annually 

 at the beginning of the vegetative period from the underground portion of the stem 

 always dies off again in the autumn, whilst the dried remains still above the ground 

 decay so quickly that only in rare cases can they be used as supports for the shoots 

 which grow up fresh from the soil in the following year. As a type of weaving 

 undershrubs the widely-distributed Marsh Crane's-bill (Geranium paludre) may be 

 taken. The young shoots grow erectly among the bushes scattered over damp mea- 

 dows or on the edge of a forest, but they do not become woody; their upper ends 



Vol. I. 



43 



