178 THE ASSOCIATIONS' S OF FLOWERS 
though still much in request in the southern parts of 
Europe, and an object of general culture in tropical 
countries. 
The very beautiful climbing garden plants whose plaits 
of pink or blue vary with the purple or white colours of 
their flowers, and which are usually termed major con- 
volvuluses, are more correctly called Ipomaea. Many 
kinds of this plant throw their bells about the verandah, 
or over the summer bower of the garden, or they hang 
down amid the foliage of the tree round which they have 
been trained. Almost all the species of this graceful 
flower are natives of North or South America or of the 
East or West Indies. They are abundant in the Canadian 
forests, festooning the very summits of their tall trees, and 
growing on flexile stems a hundred feet in length. The 
Canadians call them “ morning gloves, ’ ^ beca,use they dis- 
play most of their beauty in the early part of the day. 
Several of the less hardy species require, in our country, 
the protection of the hothouse. 
The tuberous-rooted Ipomaea is, in Jamaica, an ever- 
green plant, and frequently trained over lattice-work. It 
is said that is may be carried over an arbour of three 
hundred feet in length; and as its leaves and flowers are 
very abundant, and the latter delightfully odoriferous, it 
is a useful plant in a country where shade is always wel- 
come, and it forms eg frequent part of the garden arrange- 
ment. 
The convolvulus order (Convolvulacem) contains a few 
other genera of plants besides the convolvulus; but they 
are, with few exceptions, all climbing plants, and are 
rnostly distinguished by their plaited blossoms. Some of 
them are found occupying every variety of soil and cli- 
mate; but they are far more abundant in the torrid zone, 
and in warm, than in cold climates. The roots of many 
convolvuluses contain an acrid milky fluid. The medicinal 
jalap is procured from the Convolvulus jalapa. 
A very common plant belonging to this order is the 
dodder of our heaths. This plant creeps over the yellow 
gorse bush in great quantity. Its small pink blossoms are 
situated on leafless stems, which wind among the prickly 
bushes, or entwine the nettles so closely that it is im- 
possible to separate them. This is one of the few truly 
