VINCA 



BB. FoJitu/t' (hi'itlnous, or /t\s.s t'ffiyrcen. 



3. herbacea,\Yaklst. iV Kit. Hekbaieius PERnvixKi.E. 

 Harily ti-:iiliug herh, which grurrully Idsfs its foliage in 

 wiiittT, semis up short llowoving stems in spring^ fol- 

 lowed by sterile creeping stems which root at the ii|is. 

 The tls. are purpler than in tlic common Periwinkle, 

 later, and the corolla-lobes arc narrower: Ivs, ellijitical 

 or lanceolate, margin revolute, ciliate; ]ieti(de with L' 

 glands near the middle: calyx-lobes narrowly lanceo- 

 late, ciliolate; coridla-lobes oblong-obovjite, dimidiale. 

 Eastern Eu., Asia Minor. B.M. 'Jt)U'J. B.K.4::)01. 



A.\. Tt'lhler. cccc/ xiihsli nib {Ini-h .T. I , ici/Ji rnxij or 

 icllitc fh. pioiliir,,! nil sainii,, r. 



4. rbsea, Linn. BLidaihscak Pekiwinkle. Fig. 2KT2. 

 Tender, erect, everbiooming plant, somewhat shrubby 

 at the base, cosmopolitan in the tropics: lys. oblong, 

 narrowed at base, veiny: petiole glandular at the liase! 

 fls. with a ver}' small oritice, rosy purple or white, the 

 latter with or without a reddish eye; calyx-lobes liiiear 

 corolla-lobes dimidiate-oborate, mueronnlate. Gn. Ito', 

 p. 455; 4:t, p. ;!SU. V. i:i:49; l(j:49. B.M. 248. P.r! 

 1:141. — This is commonly called the "Madagascar Peri- 

 winkle," but r. rosen is probably -not native to the Old 

 World, while the only species of Vinca that is really na- 

 tive to Madagascar, viz., ]'. luiicea, is not in cultiva- 

 tion. The plant is sometimes called "(_'ape Periwinkle " 

 and "Old Maid." The three main types should be 

 known as P. yosea. I', ivsea, var. aiha, and I', rosea, 

 var. ocidafa, the latter being a white flower with pink 

 or red center. As a matter of fact, these appear in 

 American catalogues as P. nlha, P. nllxi piira, P. albn 

 nora, I', ofuhitn and I'. cfn-;H.\', the latter being a trade 

 nitnie for seed of mixed varieties. -rr- ^t 



VINCETOXICUM. The Mosquito Plant or Cruel 

 Plant, known in the trade as \'i iicetoxiciiiii iu-kiiuiki- 

 tniit and P. J(/ pan iriiui , is Ci/ii'incJiut)! acuvt/nali fii- 

 lium , which see. 



VINE-CACTUS. Foiiqnieria sphndeiis. 



VINE, GLOEY. rU,nin,„.-<. 



VINE PEACH, See under Cncumis Melo. 



VINE, PIPE. Arn^tolodn., t<iplin. 



VINE, SILK. See Pi-riplm-a Grieea. 



VINE, WONGA WONGA, Tecnmu aiistralh. 



VINES. In horticultural parlance, a vine is a weak- 

 stemmed, more or less tall-growing plant that needs to 

 have the support of some rigid object to hold it above 

 the earth. Many plants that are grown for their eco- 

 nomic uses are vines, although they are ordinarily not 

 so classified in horticultural works; for example, some 

 of the beans, the hop and the sweet potato plant. When 

 vines are mentioned in horticultural writings, plants 

 that are used for ornament are commonly understood. 

 In general literature the terra "vine," when used spe- 

 cifically, designates the grape. Sometimes vegetable- 

 gardeners, when speaking of vines, mean cucurbita- 

 ceous plants, as meli>ns, cucumbers and sqttashes. 



Vines belong to many natural orders and represent 

 very many types of plant beauty. The larger part of 

 them are useful in horticultttral operations as screens 

 for covering unsightly objects or for shading verandas 

 and summer houses. Many of them are shrubs, the plant 

 body being woody and persisting year after year; others 

 are perennial herlis, dying to the ground but the root 

 persisting from year to year, as some dioscoreas; others 

 are true amnial herbs, as morning-glories. Some of 

 them are valued chiefly for foli.age, as the Virginia 

 creeper, Japanese ivy, grapes and the true or English 

 ivy; others are prized largely for their flowers, as morn- 

 ing-glories, moonflowers and scarlet runners. Vines 

 represent all degrees of hardiness or tenderness ; they 

 are also of various heights ami differ in rapidity of 

 growth ; therefore it is impossible to make a list of vines 

 that shall apply to the whole country. 



122 



VINES 



193.') 



Vines are really cdinddng idants. They get up in the 

 world in three general ways: by scranibling or (dani- 

 bering over other phmts without any special devices 

 for aiding them in the ascent; by twining about the 

 stipport; by ascending by means of special organs, as 

 rools or tendrils. The larger luimber of cultivated 

 clnnl)ing plants belong to the last two categories. 

 Plowever, there are many useful climbers amongst 

 the scrandders, as, for example, some of the long- 

 steninn-d roses. These plants usually have to be tied to 

 a su|i|i(.rt uidess they are allowed to rand.le at will over 

 some expaiidi.il surface, as the t(.p of a bush or a bro;id 

 stom- wall. 



E:udi spe(des of twining plant has its own ilirci-tion of 

 winding :diout the support, and tlie specdcs follows this 

 direction under all ordinary circumstances. Some of 

 them, as the hops, wind about the support in the direc- 



2673. Hop (Humulus Japon- 

 icus), twinine from the 

 observer's rifrht to his 

 left, or \vith the sun. 



2674. Morninti-glGry, twinine 

 from the observer's left 

 to his right, or against 

 the sun. 



tion of the movement of the sun, or from the observer's 

 right to his left. Fig. 2673. Others, as the morning 

 glory, twine in a direction opposed to the daily move- 

 ment of the sun, or from the observer's left to his right. 

 Fig. 21)74. The constancy of these directions of climb- 

 ing was observed long ago. It is interesting to know 

 that Paul Dudley, Chief .Justice of Massachusetts, 

 made this observation as long ago as 1724 and reported 

 it to the Royal Philosophical Society. A full discussion 

 of this and related topics concerning clinil)ing plants 

 may be found in Darwin's l)ook, "The ^lovements and 

 Ptatiits of Climbing Plants." 



The special organs by means of which plants climb are 

 of many kinds. In general they may be referred to three 

 general categories: roots, as the trumpet creeper and 

 ivies; ccdling petioles or leaf-stalks, as the clematis 

 (Fig. 4S7) and the nasturtium : tendrils. The tendrils 

 are of various morphological origin. Some of them, as 



