Page:Darwin - On the movements and habits of climbing plants.djvu/82

 bifurcates, and therefore corresponds in every detail with the longer scale-bearing branch (B, fig. 9) of the true tendril. It is, however, inclined backwards from the sub-peduncle (C), or stands at right angles with it, and is thus adapted to aid in carrying the future bunch of grapes. The flower-tendril (B), when rubbed, curves and subsequently straightens itself; and it can, as shown in the drawing, securely clasp a support. I have seen an object as soft as a young vine-leaf caught by one.

The lower and naked part of the sub-peduncle (C) is likewise slightly sensitive to a rub, and I have seen it distinctly bent round a stick and even partly round a leaf with which it had come into contact. That the sub-peduncle has the same nature as the corresponding branch of the ordinary tendril is well shown when it bears only a few flowers; for in this case it becomes less branched, increases in length, and gains both in sensitiveness and in the power of spontaneous movement. I have twice seen sub-peduncles (C), bearing only from thirty to forty flower-buds, which had