Climbing plant

“ A large-growing, deciduous climbing shrub, remarkable for its ample foliage, and curiously formed yellow and purple streaked flowers. A native of North America, it is perfectly hardy in this country, and makes an excellent wall plant where plenty of space can be afforded for the rambling branches. What a pity it is that so ornamental a climber, whose big, dark-green leaves overlap each other as if intended for keeping a house cool in warm weather, is not more generally planted. It does well and grows fast in almost any soil. ”

“ Some Climbing Roses act in a very similar way, especially if grown on trellis, but the flower shoots always turn to the light like those of the Galium.
But it is the creepers and lianes of the tropical forests that are the most remarkable of all climbing plants. They twine round the stems and hang in great loops and grotesque folds from the branches. Sometimes in the dense shade it 315 may be difficult to see the main stem, for it is quite thin, though as strong as a piece of steel wire. ”

“ Away up amongst the branches and foliage far above one's head, leaves and flowers are developed on numerous branches which have vigorously pushed out as soon as they got near the sunlight, this tough, spiny, thread-like stem being their only connexion with the ground.
The development of these climbing plants is probably connected with the dense shade of forests. In such places a young stem growing up will become long and drawn out; its tip will droop over and hang downwards. But there is a curious peculiarity in the growth of all stems. ”

“ The steepness of their faces seems to defy the climber; yet on their faces there are crevices just big enough for shrubs to root in, by the help of which a daring man might pull himself aloft. Nature, having first hewn out these peaks into appalling precipices, then set herself to deck them with climbing plants and to find foothold for trees on narrow ledges and to cover the surface with the bright hues of mosses and lichens, and fill chinks and crannies with ferns and pendulous flowers that wave and sway in the passing breeze. ”

“ The curvature of the stem depends on one side growing quicker than the opposite side, and the revolving movement, i.e. circumnutation, depends on the region of quickest growth creeping gradually round the stem from south through west to south again. Other plants, e.g. Phaseolus, revolve in the opposite direction.) , on which most climbers depend, is inherent, though undeveloped, in almost every plant in the vegetable kingdom." ("Climbing Plants", page 205.) ”

“ These climbing plants grow in great profusion when they once get fixed in the soil, and twist their tendrils or ‘leaders’ round and round the tall, straight, young ash poles with so tight a grasp as to partly strangle the stick and form a deep screw-like groove in it. ”

“ When I speak of climbing plants I do not mean any one species, but include under the term all those plants which here thickly cover a trunk with their tortuous coils, and there spread their tendrils over a bare tree-top; which in one place link many trees together, and in another cover a single tree with wreaths of green; which in one part of the forest link branch to branch with bridges of naked tendrils, and in another region combine to render the way impassable; occurring in a hundred different forms, but always twining and climbing. ”

“ If you look under the thick covering of leaves, you will find these tiny padded tendrils clinging tightly to the wall (see fig. 105) . This is the reason that the ampelopsis grows so well up the walls without being held up artificially.
There are many other things you may find out about climbing plants, but you will have seen enough to be able to look for more for yourself, and to understand how it is that the climbing plants can reach such a great height so quickly. ”

“ These climbing plants, though within reach of one’s hand, yet do not allow of close observation; one follows the course of their tendrils admiringly, but without being able to say whence they come and whither they go; one revels in the sight of their flowers without being able to reach them, or often do more than guess to what plants they belong. These climbers, above all else, impress on the woodlands the stamp and seal of the primitive forest. ”

“ I have seen only one tendril-bearing plant, namely, Smilax aspera, which is furnished with reflexed spines; but this is the case with several branch-climbers in South Brazil and Ceylon; and their branches graduate into true tendrils. Some few plants apparently depend solely on their hooks for climbing, and yet do so efficiently, as certain palms in the New and Old Worlds. Even some climbing Roses will ascend the walls of a tall house, if covered with a trellis. ”

“ Summary on Leaf-climbers.—Plants belonging to eight families are known to have clasping petioles, and plants belonging to four families climb by the tips of their leaves. In all the species observed by me, with one exception, the young internodes revolve more or less regularly, in some cases as regularly as those of a twining plant. They revolve at various rates, in most cases rather rapidly. Some few can ascend by spirally twining round a support. Differently from most twiners, there is a strong tendency in the same shoot to revolve first in one and then in an opposite direction. ”

“ According to Mohl, the rootlets of certain species of Lycopodium act as tendrils. [188]
Concluding Remarks on Climbing Plants.
Plants become climbers, in order, as it may be presumed, to reach the light, and to expose a large surface of their leaves to its action and to that of the free air. This is effected by climbers with wonderfully little expenditure of organized matter, in comparison with trees, which have to support a load of heavy branches by a massive trunk. ”

“ The most interesting point in the natural history of climbing plants is the various kinds of movement which they display in manifest relation to their wants. The most different organs—stems, branches, flower-peduncles, petioles, mid-ribs of the leaf and leaflets, and apparently aërial roots—all possess this power. ”

“ Climbing plants may be conveniently divided into those which spirally twine round a support, those which ascend by the movement of the foot-stalks or tips of their leaves, and those which ascend by true tendrils,—these tendrils being either modified leaves or flower-peduncles, or perhaps branches. But these subdivisions, as we shall see, nearly all graduate into each other. There are two other distinct classes of climbing-plants, namely those furnished with hooks and those with rootlets; but, as such plants exhibit no special movements, we are but little concerned with them ”

“ Climbing plants are monstrous and luxuriant, but others which have never been known to climb elsewhere learn the art as an escape from that somber shadow, so that the common nettle, the jasmine, and even the jacitara palm tree can be seen circling the stems of the cedars and striving to reach their crowns. ”

“ The extraordinary development of climbing powers has been gradually acquired in the course of ages. In times and places where vegetation was not dense, and where the struggle for light was not great, plants of erect habit succeeded well. Then it was a conflict to see which could grow tallest. But when a weak plant found that, by taking hold of its tall and erect neighbor and by clinging to it, it could reach the sunlight much easier and by an expenditure of much less material than by growing erect itself, it was a great step on the road. ”

“ Several leaf-climbing genera are closely allied to other genera which are simple twiners. It should be observed, that the possession by a plant of leaves with their petioles or tips sensitive, and with the consequent power of clasping any object, would be of very little use, unless associated with revolving internodes, by which the leaves could be brought into contact with surrounding objects. On the other hand, revolving internodes, without other aid, suffice to give the power of climbing ”

“ Climbing plants of various kinds will be trained up the mullions and rafters of the circular house, and allowed to hang in festoons from the roof. When the house is filled with flowering and ornamental-leaved plants, with climbers dependent from the roof, the effect will be charming. ”

“ We have attempted to trace some of the stages in the genesis of climbing plants. But, during the endless fluctuations of the conditions of life to which all organic beings have been exposed, it might be expected that some climbing plants would have lost the habit of climbing. ”

“ Also, that climbing is accomplished by powers and actions as unlike those generally predicated of the vegetable kingdom as any which have been brought to view in the preceding volume. Climbing plants "feel" as well as "grow and live;" and they also manifest an automatism which is perhaps more wonderful than a response by visible movement to an external irritation. Nor do plants grow up their supports, as is unthinkingly supposed; for, although only growing or newly-grown parts act in climbing, the climbing and the growth are entirely distinct. ”

“ Kerner also finds, as we have seen, that the flower-peduncles of a large number of plants, if shaken or gently rubbed bend to this side. And it is young petioles and tendrils, whatever their homological nature may be, which move on being touched. It thus appears that climbing plants have utilized and perfected a widely distributed and incipient capacity, which capacity, as far as we can see, is of no service to ordinary plants. ”

“ A whole host of lovely plants may be seen to great advantage in this way, apart from the well–known and popular climbing plants. There are, for example, many species of Clematis which [44] have never come into cultivation, but which are quite as beautiful as any climbers. The same may be said of the Honeysuckles, wild Vines, and various other families of which the names may be found in catalogues. Much of the northern tree and shrub world is garlanded with creepers, which may be grown in similar ways, as, for example, on banks and in hedgerows. ”

“ A creeper should always be allowed to grow as naturally as possible, and not be restrained more than is necessary by nails or by cutting back. Climbing Roses lose much of their vigour and beauty if penned severely and stretched out tight on a wall. Most climbing plants need some support at the beginning, but later in life take [173] care of themselves. One climber may be freely allowed to mingle with others, so that you can think out lovely combinations; but you must understand which are free growers and which are shy and delicate, or the strong will strangle the weak. ”

“ Plants climbing by the aid of hooks, or merely scrambling over other plants—Root-climbers, adhesive matter secreted by the rootlets—General conclusions with respect to climbing plants, and the stages of their development. ”

“ Fourthly, we have in stems, petioles, flower-peduncles, and tendrils the spontaneous revolving movement which depends on no outward stimulus, but is contingent on the youth of the part and on its vigorous health, which again of course depends on proper temperature and the other conditions of life. This is perhaps the most interesting of all the movements of climbing plants, because it is continuous. ”

“ There is only one more fact connected with the evolution of climbing plants which must be alluded to, namely, the curious way in which the representatives of the class are scattered throughout the vegetable kingdom. Lindley divided flowering plants into fifty-nine classes, called Alliances, and in no less than thirty-five of these climbing plants are found. ”

“ In the classification of climbing plants, proposed by my father in his book, he makes a subdivision of "hook-climbers." These may be taken as the simplest representatives of that class of climbers which are not twining plants. The common bramble climbs or scrambles up through thick underwood, being assisted by the recurved spines which allow the rapidly growing shoot to creep upward as it lengthens, but prevent it from slipping backward again ”

“ These plants have been here classed under three heads:—Firstly, hook-climbers, which are, at least in our temperate countries, the least efficient of all, and can climb only in the midst of an entangled mass of vegetation. Secondly, root-climbers, which are excellently adapted to ascend naked faces of rock: when they climb trees, they are compelled to keep much in the shade; they cannot pass from branch to branch, and thus cover the whole summit of a tree, for their rootlets can adhere only by long-continued and close contact with a steady surface. ”

“ SOME HARDY CLIMBERS We think the American who described climbing plants as ‘creepers and crawlers’ must have been first cousin to the American novelist who said the house in which his heroine lived was not disfigured by any messy plants growing near it. ”

“ I saw each spruce: its age, its condition, the onslaughts it had borne; the beargrass coming up in an opening; and down the trail a meadow that was yellow, white, and red with sulphur plant, mariposa, and Indian paintbrush. Bees, flies, spiders, and butterflies worked that little garden tucked among the crowding trees. Countless forms of life beneath the soil and bark, in tunnel, crevice, hole, and pocket, working unseen to sustain their lives, and somehow, when all were added up, maintaining the forest as well. ”

“ Whether the advantage thus gained by twining plants accounts for their summits being so frequently hooked, we do not know, as this structure is not very rare with plants which do not climb, and with some climbers (for instance, Vitis, Ampelopsis, Cissus, etc.) to whom it does not afford any assistance in climbing. ”

“ He further remarks that plants growing beneath other and taller species or trees, are naturally those which would be developed into climbers; anti such plants, from stretching towards the light, and from not being much agitated by the wind, tend to produce long, thin and flexible shoots. ”