60 PEOPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



take any very active part in gathering or assimilating 

 nutrients, and still be of great service in other ways 

 to the plants producing them — for instance, the filiform 

 aerial organs on the stems of the Poison Sumac {Rhus 

 Toxicodendron), on the Trumpet Creeper {Tecoma radi- 

 cans), American and Japan Ivies (Ampehpsis), and 

 many other similar and well-known plants. These ap- 



Fig. 18.— GBAPEVINE TENBEIL. 



pendages differ much m their mode of attachment to 

 whatever object serves them as a support. Some force 

 themselves into the cracks of the bark, wood, or rocks, 

 or are attached by minute laterd fibres, while others, like 

 the Ampelopsis, produce small flattened discs on the ends 

 of their many-branched, root-like organs each disc be- 

 coming fastened to whatever object that happens to be 

 within reach. Tendrils are merely modified forms of the 

 game organs in these and allied plants, possessing varioas 



