September, 1911 
The nasturtium climbs by means of its numerous 
leaf-stalks 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
The sweet pea ts a tendril climber which un- 
ceasingly seeks support 
The tacoma produces a twining stem and 
climbing roots 
The Story of the Climbing Plants 
By S. Leonard Bastin 
G 
mn 
iM GNEN NG) the average plant the great problem of 
Ss existence is that of finding room to grow 
at all. In the evolution of the different 
forms of vegetable life, all kinds of de- 
vices have been brought into being to 
make certain that a particular race shall 
secure the ascendency in the struggle for 
Perhaps no class of plants has been so successful 
a place. 
in this direction as the large group of species which have 
adopted climbing methods to enable them to rise in the 
world. Long ago these aggressive vegetables have taken 
up a position which is quite un- 
assailable. In the temperate 
regions it is the Honeysuckles 
and Brambles which have cap- 
tured the hedgerows for their 
very own, while in the tropical 
jungles the giant Aroids and 
Asclepiads clamber to the sum- 
mits of the highest trees. In 
themselves the climbing plants 
form a most interesting study, 
which owing to the wide distri- 
bution of the members of the 
group is more easily followed 
than that of almost any botan- 
ical course. 
A feature which at once ap- 
peals to the student of the climb- 
ing vegetation is the variety of 
ways in which the plants realize 
their particular object. Nearly 
all the principal parts of the 
organism have been called into 
requisition in the different spe- 
cies and in not a few cases spe- 
cial processes have been evolved 
to aid the subject to rise. Ina 
The tendrils of the Virginia creeper seek the dark 
general way all the climbing plants are able to develop 
very quickly—their growth in some cases being astonish- 
ingly rapid. By this means the plant is able to take ad- 
vantage with the utmost promptitude of any support which 
may offer. 
Perhaps the most widely adopted method of climbing 
is accomplished by means of the twining stem. It is ob- 
servable in a large number of cases that weak-stemmed 
plants exhibit a tendency, more or less pronounced, to rise 
on some support. ‘The ability to do so is largely due to a 
modified scheme of growth which has been called circum- 
nutation. Darwin advanced the 
theory that the twining stem was 
but an advanced form of a phe- 
nomenon which was to be ob- 
served in practically every plant. 
The conception, although it is 
not universally accepted, is cer- 
tainly worthy of serious atten- 
tion. ‘The student will be sur- 
prised to find, if he examines the 
stems of an assortment of plants 
closely, in how many instances 
a twisting of the stem has ob- 
viously taken place. This is at 
times to be seen even in the 
trunks of large trees, notably so 
in the case of the Yew. As a 
general rule the twining plants 
are not able to rise on a support 
except this is vertical or nearly 
so. A number of familiar ex- 
amples of twining stems will oc- 
cur to the mind of the most 
casual observer. Of these per- 
haps the Hop, the French Bean, 
the Convolvulus and the Honey- 
suckle are amongst the most 
