Liana (plant)

Grapevine ( Vitis vinifera ) in its natural growth form as a liana

Liana in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve , Ecuador

Lianas are climbing plants with a usually woody trunk, which are rooted in the ground and climb trees or other vertical structures. Lianas are not a natural, phylogenetic family group, i.e. not a taxon , but are a type of life that has developed in different taxa convergent and in different forms.

Several types of lianas can be distinguished: Some climbing plants wrap around the support in more or less numerous turns (bindweed or creepers ). The direction of rotation , the sense of wind, is usually genetically determined depending on the family.

• Climbing plants (e.g. peas , beans , pumpkins , passion flowers , clematis and grapevines ) usually form shoot or leaf-based climbing organs .
• Other lianas hold on with adhesive roots ( root climbers , e.g. common ivy ) or adhesive discs (e.g. virgin vines ).
• Spreizklimmer (z. B. blackberries , climbing roses , cleavers , Winter jasmine and sarsaparilla ) strut their branches with the carrier plants by lateral spread, said auxiliary organs such as climbing hair, Klimmhäkchen or mandrels prevent slipping back.

Lianas escape the lack of light near the ground without having to form a massive trunk. They are not parasites , so they do not deprive the carrier plant of nutrients or water. These can be impaired by the deprivation of light above, by water and nutrient competition in the root area or by the weight of the vine itself, especially if the carrier plants are already weakened by disease . Due to the frequency of such climbing plants in the rainforest, lianas can make up about half of the leaf area there. Many lianas in the tropical rainforest form aerial roots .

Lianas are particularly numerous in the tropical rainforest . As lianas native to Central Europe a. Grapevines , hops , ivy , some blackberry species, clematis and honeysuckle . The wisteria species are the wisteria species , which we have horticulturalized on house facades and pergolas and are popular because of their blooming but weighty lianas .

Web links

Commons : Liane  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Liane  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Peter Hamilton Raven, Ray Franklin Evert, Susan E. Eichhorn: Biology of plants. Gruyter, 2000, ISBN 978-3110154627 , p. 950.
2. ↑ Herder Lexicon of Biology , Spectrum Academ. Verlag, 1994, Vol. 5, ISBN 3-86025-156-2 , p. 254