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Secondly and thirdly, Bignonia unguis with its close allies, and Cardiospermum; but their tendrils are so short that their contraction could hardly occur, and would be quite superfluous. Fourthly, Smilax aspera offers a more marked exception, as its tendrils are moderately long.
The whole tendril had five disc-bearing branches of equal thickness and apparently of equal strength; so that after having been exposed during ten years to the weather, it would probably have resisted a strain of ten pounds! SAPINDACEAE. Cardiospermum halicacabum. In this family, as in the last, the tendrils are modified flower-peduncles.
An unattached tendril rolls itself up into a flat helix, as in the case of Cardiospermum, if the contraction commences at the extremity and is quite regular; but if the continued growth of the outer surface is a little lateral, or if the process begins near the base, the terminal portion cannot be rolled up within the basal portion, and the tendril then forms a more or less open spire.
The gas enclosed in the capsules of the Cardiospermum vesicarium appeared to me to contain the same proportion of oxygen as the atmosphere, while that contained between the knots, in the hollow of the stalk, is generally less pure, containing only from 0.12 to 0.15 of oxygen. This humid spot, though infested by serpents, presents a rich harvest to the botanist.
I have seen, but was not enabled carefully to observe, only one other climbing Sapindaceous plant, namely, Paullinia. It was not in flower, yet bore long forked tendrils. So that, Paullinia, with respect to its tendrils, appears to bear the same relation to Cardiospermum that Cissus does to Vitis.
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