Photo Essay Photo Essay

Photographer: Gwilym Lewis

Morphology: Passiflora pendens

The shoot tip of Passiflora pendens shows the alternate leaf arrangement and a tendril in each axil. In 98% of the species, the tendril is unbranched. Tendrils are derived from inflorescences. Passifloras range from 40 m lianas of primary rain forest canopy, to smaller forest edge vines, to tiny climbers. Lianas are very poorly understood throughout the world because plants located in the canopy are difficult to study.