The wonders of the vegetable kingdom displayed; in a series of letters
(This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1824 edition. Excerpt: ...the case with the humulus lupulus, or common hop; the lonicia periclymenum, or common honeysuckle; the ta-mus communis, or lady-seal, and many others; whilst different kinds of creeping plants, such as the convolvulus arvensis, and sepium, or small and great bindweed; phaseolus, or kidney-bean, &c., turn their spiral stems from west to south-east. The branches of the honeysuckle shoot longitudinally, till they become unable to bear their own weight, and then strengthen themselves by chang. ing into a spiral form. When they meet with other living branches of the same kind, they coalesce for mutual support, and one spiral turns to the right, and the other to the left; thus seeking, by an instinctive impulse, some object on which to climb, and increasing the probability of finding one by the diversity of their course; for if the auxiliary branch be dead, the other uniformly winds itself round from right to left. G The seeds of the cuscuta Europzea, or greater dodder, open when ripe, and put forth a little spiral, which does not seek the earth to take root, but climbs up other plants, from which, by means of vessels, it draws its nourishment. When sown in a pot, the dodder produces seeds; but the plants invariably die, unless they can attach themselves to something else. As soon as the roots have twined round an adjoining plant, they send out from their inner surface a number of little vesicles or papillae, which fix themselves to the bark or rind. By degrees, the longitudinal vessels of the stalk, which appear to have accompanied the vessels, shoot forth from their extremities, and make their way into the foster-plant, by dividing the vessels, and insinuating themselves into the tenderest part of the stalk, in so intimate a manner, as to...
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