Tarzan, the fictional ape-man, raised in the African jungles, used the liana vines as his mode of transport. Remember the famous war-cry ‘Kreegah, Bundalo’ he makes while grabbing onto these vines and effortlessly gliding from one tree to another?
Liana vines are long-stemmed, woody plants that root in the soil. They utilize trees and other vertical structures as physical support to rise above the forest canopy for sunlight. Upon reaching the top of the overhang, these climbers extend large foliage of fast-growing shoots and leaves in all directions, filling the gaps between trees and causing unwanted shade to the plant community underneath. It might be interesting to know that a massive climber plant that was once spotted in Panama, Central America, had spanned the width and breadth of almost 65 trees!
The strong stems of the liana vines are amazingly flexible. Some of them look like looped cables, while some appear like flattened ribbons or braided threads. Animals and predators often find these structures easy ‘natural ladders’ to scale and move across the great canopy heights.
Wide tube-like channels within the stems store large amounts of water. So, if ever you get stranded inside a thick forest, and run out of drinking water, you only have to walk up to a liana vine, cut a length out of it, and quench your thirst!
Picture Credit : Google
