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POLEMONIACEAE Cobaea scandens much branched and hooked tendrils, their manner of action LEGUMINOSAE COMPOSITAE SMILACEAE Smilax aspera, its inefficient tendrils FUMARIACEAE Corydalis claviculata, its state intermediate between that of a leaf-climber and a tendril-bearer. By tendrils I mean filamentary organs, sensitive to contact and used exclusively for climbing.
There is no such movement in any leaf- climber, with the exception of an occasional trace of it in the petioles of Tropaeolum tricolorum. On the other hand, the tendrils of all tendril-bearing plants, contract spirally after they have caught an object with the following exceptions. Firstly, Corydalis claviculata, but then this plant might be called a leaf-climber.
Corydalis claviculata. This plant is interesting from being in a condition so exactly intermediate between a leaf-climber and a tendril-bearer, that it might have been described under either head; but, for reasons hereafter assigned, it has been classed amongst tendril-bearers.
The plant might have been left, one would have thought, to climb by the aid of its spines alone, like our brambles. As, however, it belongs to a genus, some of the species of which are furnished with much longer tendrils, we may suspect that it possesses these organs solely from being descended from progenitors more highly organized in this respect. FUMARIACEAE. Corydalis claviculata.
Tendrils which have caught nothing simply bend downwards and inwards, like the extremities of the leaves of the Corydalis claviculata. But in all cases the petiole after a time is angularly and abruptly bent downwards like that of Eccremocarpus.
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