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 38 how to climb DHJanzen100349.jpg high resolution
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| There has been strong selection among vine species for a variety of ways to climb - both because there are many ways to do it and because the vine life form has evolved many times among different groups of plants. One of the most widespread ways that vines climb is to simply twine around a self-supporting plant, as is the case with this tropical Asclepiadaceae (that is the same plant family that has upright, self-supporting species such as milkweed - Asclepias syriaca - in the temperate zones). This has one major disadvantage. As the self-supporting stem grows in diameter the relatively inelastic vine is eventually burst because it cannot elongate (just as a tree trunk cannot elongate, even though it can increase its diameter). | ||
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