APPENDAGES TO PLANTS. 
79 
the name of glumes ; they envelope and sustain the stamens 
and fruit* of the pine, oak, chesnut, &c. 
Fig. 15. 
7th. Tendrils , or claspers, thread-like or 
filiform appendages, by which weak stems 
attach themselves to other bodies for sup- 
port ; they usually rise from the branches, 
in some cases from the leaf, and rarely 
from the leaf stalk or flower stalk. You 
have here the representation (Fig. 15.) of 
a tendril. Tendrils are very important, 
and are characteristic appendages to many 
plants. In the trumpet flower and ivy, the 
tendrils serve for roots; planting them- 
selves into the bark of trees, or in the walls 
of buildings. In the cucumber and some 
other plants, the tendrils serve both for sus- 
tenance and shade. Many of the papilio- 
naceous, or pea blossom plants, have twin- 
ing tendrils, which wind to the right and 
back again. Among vegetables which 
have tendrils, has been discovered that 
property, which some have called the in- 
stinctive intelligence of plants. A poetical 
botanist represents the tendrils of the gourd 
and cucumber, as “creeping away in disgust from the 
fatty fibres of the neighbouring olive.” There is certainly 
much that is astonishing in the manner which tendrils 
stretch themselves forward, to grasp some substances while 
they shrink from others. But instead of imagining that 
they have a preference for some and a dislike for otherobjects, 
it is much more philosophical to conclude that these effects 
arise from physical causes, which may be rationally ex- 
plained. It has been ascertained by experiments, that the 
tendrils of the vine, and some other plants recede from the 
light, and seek opaque bodies. The fact with respect to 
leaves is directly the reverse of this, for they turn them- 
selves round to seek the light. 
Some plants creep by their tendrils to a very great height 
even to the tops of the loftiest trees ; and seem only to 
cease ascending because they can find nothing higher to 
climb. One of our most beautiful climbing plants is the 
♦These fruits are called aments, cone3, or strobilums. 
Tendrils — Recede from the light. 
