Question

Woody twiners are
(a) Stragglers
(b) Creepers
(c) Lianes
(d) Scandent

Answer 1

Hint: These are woody vines seen generally in the tropical forests. Since they curl around the trunks of other trees with their woody stems, they are called woody twiners.

Complete step by step answer:
A liana is a woody vine with a long-stemmed body structure, that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. Lianas can form bridges along with the forest canopy, to provide paths across the forest to the arboreal animals. These bridges can also protect the weaker trees from strong winds. Lianas are competing with forest trees for sunlight, water, and nutrients from the soil.
- Lianas are mainly the characteristic of tropical moist deciduous forests but can be found in temperate rainforests and temperate deciduous forests.
- Lianas can easily be distinguished from trees and shrubs based on the stiffness.
- A liana often has more flexible growth at the base of the stem and also has stiff young growths and older as compared to trees and shrubs. Trees and shrubs calve twigs and smaller branches which are quite flexible and older growth like trunks and enormous branches which are stiffer.
-stranglers are named for the way they grow upon host trees, which often results in the death of the host tree. As it grows, long roots develop and descend along the trunk of the host tree, eventually reaching the bottom and entering the soil.
- Creepers spread horizontally rather than growing vertically because they have soft and weak stems.
- Scandent plants are fast- growing climbers with pliable stems for climbing onto the woody trunks of trees.

So, the correct answer is, ’(c) Lianes’.

Note:
- Lianas compete intensely with trees, greatly reducing tree growth and tree reproduction, by preventing tree seedlings from establishing.
- Lianas also provide routes within the forest canopy for several arboreal animals, including ants and lots of other invertebrates, lizards, rodents, sloths, monkeys, and lemurs.
- When strong winds blow the lianas provide support for trees.