Vine on vine

Click for greater clarity, especially in the feathery strands of the Clematis.

Do you remember the tree-like mustang grape vine, Vitis mustangensis, that appeared in these pages in January? Even such a mighty thing necessarily began small, and that’s what you see in this photograph: the new and endearingly downy growth of a mustang grape vine on August 1 along the Brushy Creek Regional Trail in Cedar Park (during the same outing that brought you the recent photographs of dragonflies).

What’s curious here is the presence of a second kind of vine, Clematis drummondii, whose feathery strands you’ve seen in these pages on several occasions. When two species of vines meet, it’s natural to wonder which one will predominate. In this case the mustang grape seems to have gotten the upper hand, although not entirely.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman