Old rattan vines in winter
On the cold morning of January 24th, where you’ve already heard that a shallow carpet of ice pellets lay on the ground in some places, I went to Great Hills Park, where I photographed some thick rattan vines, Berchemia scandens. The sweet-potato color you see here is one typical hue of this woody species, the other being a dull green. Speaking of colors, this vine’s leaves can turn a pretty yellow-orange at the end of fall; I didn’t see any of that this past season, but you’re welcome to (re)visit a post from two years ago. And if you look carefully at today’s picture, in several places you can make out some strands of a different and slenderer vine, the aptly named greenbrier.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Some weeks ago I spent an afternoon at Armand Bayou Nature Center. In certain areas, the trees were encircled by these vines, and the ground was covered with a thick carpet of lovely, small, yellow-orange leaves. Now I realize the vines and the leaves belonged together – at least until wind, rain and a changing season separated them.
Thanks for adding that leaf-link. It’s really fun to put pieces of the outdoor puzzle together.
shoreacres
February 23, 2014 at 7:12 AM
One advantage to having so many posts online is that I can sometimes link (in both senses) several phases of a given species. I’m glad that in this case the linking helped you put together the bare rattan vines and the leaves recently shed from them. There’s also a post showing the grape-like fruit of the vine:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/rattan-fruit/
Steve Schwartzman
February 23, 2014 at 11:10 AM
Are these vines used for rattan work anymore?
Gallivanta
February 23, 2014 at 7:27 AM
Some years ago I wondered about the connection to rattan furniture, but the American vine turns out to be unrelated (in anything other than its common name) to the Asian rattans that are in the palm family, and from some types of which people make furniture. I suspect the American vine got its name because of a superficial resemblance to some of those other rattan species:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/rattan-fruit/
Steve Schwartzman
February 23, 2014 at 11:17 AM
I have just realised that we have a similar vine here in New Zealand. Not the same, but known as a supple jack.
Gallivanta
February 23, 2014 at 6:28 PM
I like the twisted ones left of top center.
Jim in IA
February 23, 2014 at 7:38 AM
It’s good of you to notice the twisting. Some individuals do a lot more twisting than that, and although I’ve taken pictures of them I’ve yet to post any. Probably one day I will.
Steve Schwartzman
February 23, 2014 at 11:21 AM
I find twisty branches, especially etched against the sky, entrancing.
The World Is My Cuttlefish
February 23, 2014 at 10:04 AM
Me too. I’ve taken my share of photos of twisty things in nature, but in doing a search just now I found that I haven’t shown many twisty branches in this blog. I did find this twisting, though, against a bright blue sky:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/turning-red/
Steve Schwartzman
February 23, 2014 at 11:27 AM
it does remind me of the ‘Evil Dead’.
that’s a compliment BTW.
sedge808
February 23, 2014 at 7:01 PM
Thanks for the compliment. I hadn’t heard of that movie, but I looked it up. No doubt some trees consider the rattan vine evil, because it can make them dead by strangling:
http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=26721
Steve Schwartzman
February 24, 2014 at 7:38 AM
[…] and therefore is most often found near water. The woody vines hanging from the upright trees are rattan, Berchemia […]
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