Jun 142014
I continue to be intrigued by the many twists and turns of the tendrils of muscadine grapevine (Vitis rotundifolia). The more attention I pay to them, the more I begin to wonder at patterns I notice. For example, it seems as if all the bright red tendrils are located near the top of the vine, in places exposed to direct sunlight. The tendrils lower down on the plan tend toward much paler red or even green. I wonder if the red tendrils contain a photosynthetic pigment that the green ones do not. Something to research further….
If you get any answers, I’d be interested in hearing them. The question reminded me of a song from MIT, though:
Tell me why the stars do shine
Tell me why the ivy twines
Tell me why the sky’s so blue
And I’ll tell you just why I love you
Nuclear fusion makes the starts shine
Tropisms make the ivy twine
Rayleigh scattering makes the sky so blue
And gonads and hormones are why I love you 🙂
Marvelous ditty, or bit of doggerel, Stephen. (What exactly is the difference between ditty and doggerel, by the way?) Thank you for sharing!