The serious blunder that the artist made in this drawing was in
depicting the tendrils of
[Illustration]
the bean climbing spirally as at A above, whereas the French bean, or
scarlet runner, the variety clearly selected by the artist in the
absence of any authoritative information on the point, always climbs as
shown at B. Very few seem to be aware of this curious little fact.
Though the bean always insists on a sinistrorsal growth, as B, the hop
prefers to climb in a dextrorsal manner, as A. Why, is one of the
mysteries that Nature has not yet unfolded.