Note 188 — Chapter V · Hook and Root-Climbers.—Concluding Remarks.

Fritz Müller informs me that he saw in the forests of South Brazil numerous black strings, from some lines to nearly an inch in diameter, winding spirally round the trunks of gigantic trees. At first sight he thought that they were the stems of twining plants which were thus ascending the trees: but he afterwards found that they were the aërial roots of a Philodendron which grew on the branches above. These roots therefore seem to be true twiners, though they use their powers to descend, instead of to ascend like twining plants. The aërial roots of some other species of Philodendron hang vertically downwards, sometimes for a length of more than fifty feet.