The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
WATCHING A TENDRIL GROW.
IL Carefully Examines objects and Works
With Wonderful Rapidity.

With Wonderful Rapidity.
Tendrils will reach out toward us II we
place our hands in contact with them. and
will even use a finger as a support 10 climb
upon.
They are indeed capable OF exhibiting
faculties and going through evolutions
more wonderful perhaps than many OF us
realize.
~It ia only after we nave seen them at
work" says a writer in Hdrper's Monthly.
Testing with their sensitive tips the objects
they come in contact with, apparently con-
sidering their suitability as a support, and
then accepting or rejecting them, as the
case may bet is only then that we realize
how Justly they nave been called the brains
Of plant life.
The ~thoroughness with which these
wandering tips explore their surround
ings is illustrated by an instance l observed
in a grape vine tendril. A cherry branch.
whose leaves had been variously pune
tured and scalloped by insects. hung near
the tendril, and a particular leaf had just
one small hole in its blade. not more than
three -sixteenths Of an inch In diameter.
$50 careful had been the exploration OF
the leafs surface that this one small hole
had Deen ulbCONcTtu ny llo VAii'
had thrust itself nearly three inches through
the opening.
The rapidity Of motion is also surprising,
particularly IL the tip Is stroked a few
times TO arouse it's latent powers. A tendril
OF the star cucumber 80 treated began TO
curl about my fingers in ten seconds. and in
one minute a complete revolution had been
made.
=. .-Lu-I 49, f-totiAn for a napniI
so hung as to come lightly in contact with
such q tendril was not encircled until nine
minutes had elapsed. These star cucum-
Der tendrils are exquisitely sensitive, and
90 responsive to the softest contact that
| OF spiders web which had happened to
brush against them and 30 aroused them
to action.
motion Of a pumpkin vine tendril, a pencil
was hung against it,. near the extremity.
Hardly had the sensitive surface felt the
contact before a response was visible In
the free extremity, which swung slowly
around in a wide loop, while the tip gradually
curled inward to complete the circle.
The tip continued to swing around,
passed beneath and close to the main shaft
Of the tendril where II tou ched the pencil,
and by it's still steadily advancing move-
ment succeeded in tightening the now
finished coil. This stage took twenty-three
minutes and then the free extremity with
its short remaining piece OF tendril essayeo
the making of another coil. -,
Il prepared to watch the process intentiy,
but after a moment or two II became evident
that the coiling motion had entirely ceased
In thinking 1t rel afterward, l was m
clined to believe that the tendrl a be-
come aware az soon as / TINT not enougn
winding length remained to complete the
second coil, and consequently Its need had
been made known to the vine; OF. az least,
that "a a result OF the stimulus exerted on the
tendrl by the pencil the vine was prompted
to share in It's movement, for ! now saw
that the vino had been gradually leaning
forward toward the pencil.
The tendrl exerted no pull. Tor the
pencil hung plumb all the while: It was, IN
appearances, a voluntary inclination OF the
vines extremity. This Of course produced
a slack in the tendril, and this slack was
taken up by the coil already formed, as IL
worked Itself slowly forward about the PEN
ellis circumference n 40 added this new
winding material to the free extremity.
The tip how moved forward again, hugging
the pencil, and by a slight upward molina
ton succeeded in laying its fattened BODY
snugly. and firmly against the coil already
formed. =.
aOnce again, however, before this second
coil was completed the material became
exhausted, winding motion ceased "a before,
the vine inclined itself still further ana the
length 30 given was taken up by the Slowly
revolving coils until the tip was free to
move forward and complete the grasp 1t
had originally designed. ,
This movement was slow as compared
with the formation OF similar coils by the
burr or stare ucumber, the wild vine which
trails it's graceful leaves so plenttfully
over fences and refuse heaps throughout
the summer. The tendrils OF this vine will
complete a double revolution around a
slender support, "a a twig or a grass stem
In twenty or twenty-five minutes"