Discovering something I didn't know?

One thing about being an academic, you constantly learn new things.  While scanning through a number of science news web sites during lunch, there was an article on the Discover Magazine web site called 20 things you didn't know about deserts.  Nothing wrong with learning a thing or three or 20 about deserts.  This is something like #3 on the list: "If you get lost in the desert, .... You can suck water from the branches of some palms, such as buri and rattan."  Wow!  What a thing to know. A real survival hint from the we-know-20-things-about-deserts-that-you-don't experts at Discover Magazine.  Well, the Phactor is going to tell you one thing that Discover Magazine doesn't know about deserts: those palms don't grow in deserts; both are native to the wet tropical areas of SE Asia-Australasia!  Duh!  Guys, that's like saying if you get lost in the desert, stop in at the first DQ you come to and get a root beer float.  They're both just about equally possible to do.  Rattan palms are actually climbing palms, lianas of a sort, so they live in forests, not deserts.  Although you can drink water from a section of rattan stem, but you're not going to find one where you need one.  Rattans do not twine; rattans climb by means of grapples, modified inflorescences, long whip-like, wiry, and armed with tough recurved  hooks that make barbed wire look friendly.  In the dim light of a rain forest understory, these long thin rattan grapples wait ready to rip asunder any unwary botanical field worker.  Did TPP mention that he does not think of  rattans fondly?  So most assuredly, rattan palms are not going to be your problem if lost in a desert, however you will probably die of thirst. 

Rainforest Field Trip - Lianas

The Phactor is taking a break from packing up our field gear to enjoy his cocktail hour because today is our last day at the field station. The trek back to the December realities of the Northern Temperate zone will begin tomorrow, and the sudden 50 degree F shift in temperature and decompressing from nearly 100% humidity to cold, dry air is a shock to the system as is the absence of the earthy vegetational odor that permeates this place. So time to post one more rainforest biology blog then on the road again.
Another feature of rainforest communities are life forms uncommon in the temperate zone. Here in the rainforest epiphytes and lianas, woody vines, festoon the forest in great profusion. Some of these lianas reach considerable size and their load can sometimes overwhelm the tree breaking their support. Further lianas commonly survive the fall of their support tree and start over again climbing another tree. Often only fallen fruits, seeds, and flowers are the only clue to vines far above in the canopy. Virtually every woody stem that can be seen in this image are lianas. Lastly lianas are a life form not a taxonomic group, and many different organisms in many different plant families grow as lianas. In fact one of the lianas in this view is the broad-leafed gymnosperm Gnetum.