# What plants are monkey-creepers? (early 1900's) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641 "2012-10-23T17:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/1 "2012-10-23T17:52:23Z")
The term is from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu. The plant covers a house in England and is an exotic import. It is not a Monkey Cup as that is not a vine. > [@](#): > > There’s a steamy smell about the place that is almost malarious, and the whole of the west front is covered with a sort of monkey-creeper, which he has imported at some time or other. It has a close, exotic perfume that is quite in the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/2 "2012-10-23T18:05:17Z")
Later the book mentions the plant is covered in little red flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/3 "2012-10-23T18:08:09Z")
[Monkey’s Ladder vines](http://www.botany.org/plantimages/ImageData.asp?IDN=01-205h) (_Bauhinia_ species) are common in Latin America. I’m not sure how common they are in cultivation. The caption calls [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Monkey_Ladder_Vine_canopy.jpg) a Monkey Ladder, but it is actually a Sea Heart Vine _Entada gigas_. There is also a [Monkey Comb Vine](http://www.backyardnature.net/q/monkey.htm) _Pithecoctinium crucigerum_. (There are also several trees in the genus _Apeiba_ that are called Monkey Combs.) However, I would imagine that the term in the story was simply made up to indicate a vine monkeys might climb on, Fu Manchu stories not being noted for their scientific precision.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/4 "2012-10-23T18:13:28Z")
Not sure, there’s a lot of vines with ‘monkey’ in at least one common name; ‘Monkey Rope’- Parsonsia straminea, ‘Monkey Ladder Vine’- Entada gigas, ‘Monkey Vine’ -Bauhinia glabra… I can’t, however, think of or find any which are both scented, and would survive long outiside in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/5 "2012-10-23T18:24:53Z")
It is also a night bloomer. I’m not sure that the plant has the word monkey in it’s name. The term monkey-creeper seems to indicate a common term back then for a general group of vines and the flowers identify a specific plant in that group. I’m looking for what plants were in that group or better yet this specific one described. It may not be hardy if it’s a fast growing vine. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/6 "2012-10-23T18:32:07Z")
The above plants are not red flowered. I’m just seeing if I can fill in the blanks. I realize the source is fiction. Looking up terms from old stories often leads to something you never knew about. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/7 "2012-10-23T20:04:55Z")
I’m going to propose _Campsis radicans_, because (stay with me): It’s a climber, more or less hardy in Britain, especially against a wall. It was probably imported prior to the timeframe specified - Joseph Hooker (1814-79) drew pictures of it It’s slightly fragrant The flowers superficially resemble those of _Mimulus spp_, which is called ‘monkey flower’, because the flowers supposedly resemble the face of a monkey. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/8 "2012-10-23T20:45:31Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m going to propose _Campsis radicans_, because (stay with me): > > It’s a climber, more or less hardy in Britain, especially against a wall. > It was probably imported prior to the timeframe specified - Joseph Hooker (1814-79) drew pictures of it > It’s slightly fragrant > The flowers superficially resemble those of _Mimulus spp_, which is called ‘monkey flower’, because the flowers supposedly resemble the face of a monkey. I get your reasoning linking it to the monkey flower and have to say you’ve come up with the best possibility yet. I can’t link the trumpet flowers to the word monkey so far. I notice most botany sources don’t mention bloom time by time of day or night. This is a gap they should fill. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/9 "2012-10-23T21:00:04Z")
I just found this in a Google Books search: > **[Food Plants of China](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2OiYydyrsygC&pg=PA632&lpg=PA632&dq=%22monkey%2Bcreeper%22&source=bl&ots=lSRkuK1DUs&sig=6kO64G7Q3re8hj8GLv_-MEwDH9Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0AOHUMTZMMKj0QWJ-oCwBA)** > > The food plants of an area provide the material basis for the survival of its population, and furnish inspiring stimuli for cultural development. There are two parts in this book. Part 1 introduces the cultural aspects of Chinese food plants and the... However, this is describing a shrub, not a climber, and it doesn’t have red flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/10 "2012-10-23T21:09:00Z")
Ah, we could be getting closer. The above linked plant (Melodinus suavolens) is called monkey-creeper. Other species in this genus have red flowers, are vines, and are fragrant - for example: Melodinus baccellianus: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/3242/3084753478_339ff0afc6_b.jpg "Melodinus baccellianus") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/79127623@N00/3084753478/) I reckon that’s the plant, if the author did indeed have a real species in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/11 "2012-10-24T10:30:45Z")
I appreciate the help people and it looks like I have a few possibilities, but nothing definitive. This is often the best you can do on something like this. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plants-are-monkey-creepers-early-1900s/638641/12 "2012-10-24T12:42:27Z")
Campsis is a nice suggestion, but its flowers are relatively large and you wouldn’t notice a marked fragrance around it.