by Chuck Nishihira
This is one of those plants that you come across that immediately grabs your eye, and upon closer inspection you realize that you have no idea what you are looking at. While there has to be some reading this that know exactly what this is, for now it remains a mystery to me. I asked a few people who I thought would definitely know, but their uncertainty mirrors my own. This was a vining plant that was climbing up a small pole tree, near Rio Blanco, Ecuador. While there were a few roots at the internodes; it was not tightly bound to the tree.
The leaves are oppositely arranged. Each highly pinnate leaf was about the size of a half-dollar. The overall appearance was one of a slightly fleshy fern doing it’s best impersonation of a vine. Hopefully, someone will recognize this and fill me in.
