Edwin A. Menninger
Flowering Vines of the World
Hearthside Press Inc. New York 1970

Quotes from this book

"Each gardener approaches all vines cautiously, pruning shears in one hand and an ax in the other, for each wildling must be tamed. It must not interfere with or smother other plants, it must produce copious flowers low down where they can be seen, and stems and foliage must be reduced so as not to dwarf the surroundings. If these objectives cannot be attained, the axe comes into play. Any grower would rather coax new young vines than fight with old ones.

....... many plants escalate into the wild blue yonder without vining tendencies and without climbing ability. It is a twisty, curly, creeping, scrambling world, from which emerge thousands of different kinds of spectacular flowers.

Except for size, there is no difference between the creeping herb in the rockery and the gigantic liana in the forest jungle. Both have the same "oomph", the same desire to go places, preferably upward, but if no support is available they grow just as well horizontally until they come to support.

..... Vines are weak-stemmed plants whose long slender, fast-growing shoots rely on other plants or objects for support. Unwilling to be bound to one spot by the circumstance of birth, they send forth their stems, usually single' but often multiple, with instructions to get on top by any means, even if this involves leaning on, crushing, or even killing neighbors in the process."