Vines and Epiphanies
The complex nature of tropical rainforests
On last Friday’s walk through the rainforest, I stopped to look at a tree. I stop a lot — for flowers, fungi, birds, and things I think are birds (mostly leaves, sometimes twigs, occasionally mangoes) — but I try not to do it for every tree because…well…there are thousands of them. But this tree was worth a closer inspection. It was curved, plaited like a rope, and covered in a collage of lichen. I took a photograph of it because of its sculptural form. It wasn’t until the tree swayed like a snake charmer’s cobra that I realised it was a huge vine.
Vines are a common and conspicuous component of tropical and subtropical rainforests. Dozens of species grow in the Wet Tropics. I have been trying to familiarise myself with the vines and lianas of the Atherton Tablelands, but it is not easy. There is no one family of vines — the scrambling, clambering habit occurs across multiple groups, including those that might not normally be associated with climbing.
Many of the vines that germinate on the forest floor use trees as guides and supports for reaching the canopy. Some of them snake around stems, coiling up towards the…
