Climbing Plants

Climbing Plants, or CLIMBERS, are, in the most extensive and popular sense of the term, those plants which, having weak stems, seek support from other objects, chiefly from other plants, in order to ascend from the ground. This, however, is accomplished in very different ways. Some climb by means of small root-like processes growing from the stem, as the ivy; others by means of hooks (e.g. Cleavers, q.v.); others again twining round their support—e.g. hop, convolvulus, &c.; and others, the most evolved, by help of sensitive organs, which are branches or leaves or leaf-stalks more or less modified. The subject of climbing plants has been worked out with peculiar fullness and interest in Darwin's classical monograph. See also in this work the section of the article PLANTS on the movements of plants; also the articles on CLEMATIS, CONVOLVULUS, HONEYBUCKLE, HOPS, IVY, LIANAS, PASSIONFLOWER, VINE, &c.