I had two young plants;
and, after having observed this habit, I placed near them posts,
which had been bored by beetles, or had become fissured by drying.
The tendrils, by their own movement and by that of the internodes,
slowly travelled over the surface of the wood, and when the apex came
to a hole or fissure it inserted itself; in order to effect this the
extremity for a length of half or quarter of an inch, would often
bend itself at right angles to the basal part. I have watched this
process between twenty and thirty times. The same tendril would
frequently withdraw from one hole and insert its point into a second
hole. I have also seen a tendril keep its point, in one case for 20
hrs. and in another for 36 hrs., in a minute hole, and then withdraw
it. Whilst the point is thus temporarily inserted, the opposite
tendril goes on revolving.
The whole length of a tendril often fits itself closely to any
surface of wood with which it has come into contact; and I have
observed one bent at right angles, from having entered a wide and
deep fissure, with its apex abruptly re-bent and inserted into a
minute lateral hole. After a tendril has clasped a stick, it
contracts spirally; if it remains unattached it hangs straight
downwards.
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