Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 28, 2025
Any one who had not closely observed tendrils of many kinds would probably infer that their action was uniform. This is the case with the simpler kinds, which simply curl round an object of moderate thickness, whatever its nature may be. But the genus Bignonia shows us what diversity of action there may be between the tendrils of closely allied species.
Besides the plants already described, Bignonia unguis and its close allies, though aided by tendrils, have clasping petioles. We now come to a small section of plants which climb by means of the produced midribs or tips of their leaves. LILIACEAE. Gloriosa Plantii.
The tendrils apparently curve themselves spontaneously to the same side with the petioles; but from various causes, it was difficult to observe the movement of either the tendrils or petioles, in this and the two following species. The tendrils are so closely similar in all respects to those of B. unguis, that one description will suffice. Bignonia unguis.
Already I observed the predominance of luxuriant vines, indicating our nearness to the tropic, wreathed gayly over the tall and branchless trunks of the trees: some, like the Bignonia, in a full blaze of crimson; others, like the Climbing Fern, draping the trees in continual verdure.
The oriole hops among the orange-trees, and the bold red cardinal spreads his scarlet wings amidst the spray of the lower shrubbery. Now and then I catch a glimpse of the "ruby-throat," coming and going like the sparkle of a gem. Its favourite haunt is among the red and scentless flowers of the buck-eye, or the large trumpet-shaped blossoms of the bignonia.
Such a tiger-lily on my table, and the pretty delicate achimenes, and the stephanotis climbing up the verandah, and a bignonia by its side, with honeysuckle all over the steps, and jessamine all over the two water-tanks at the angle of the verandah. The Melanesians have, I think, twenty-nine flower gardens, and they bring the flowers, &c. lots of flowers, and the oleanders are a sight!
They also manufacture silks, and crapes, and linen, and cotton cloth, which, though coarse, is very soft. Many fruits of temperate and tropical climes are grown. The lacquer-tree the Rhus vernix which is used in the well-known lacquer work, is a handsome tree. The leaf is something like that of the beech, but broader. The lacquer is drawn from its milky sap and mixed with the oil of the bignonia.
It is not necessarily related to the curling of the tips round a support, as we see with the Ampelopsis and Bignonia capreolata, in which the development of adherent discs suffices to cause spiral contraction.
This layer is analogous to the adhesive discs formed by the extremities of the tendrils of some species of Bignonia and of Ampelopsis; but in the Hanburya the layer is developed along the terminal inner surface, sometimes for a length of 1.75 inches, and not at the extreme tip.
It had beautiful violet-coloured flowers, an inch long, and Don Pablo saw that it was a species of bignonia. Guapo called it "chica." When in fruit it carries a pod two feet in length, full of winged seeds. But Guapo said it was not from the seeds that the dye was obtained, but from the leaves, which turn red when macerated in water.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking