These features help the long-lived rainforest leaves to shed water and to dry off quickly. In this humid environment, lower plants such as algae, lichens, fungi and mosses grow rapidly on any available surfaces and a long-lived leaf could become smothered if it remained wet and inviting for these lower plants. There are a number of ingenious solutions to this problem that have evolved over millions of years. Perhaps the solutions reached by the vines are the easiest to understand. Vines do not devote their energy to producing their own stout trunk to carry their leaves aloft.
Vines have a slender, flexible trunk that is mostly made up of water conducting tissues.
The vines borrow the strong woody trunks of the forest trees to support the weight of their leaves and stems. To hitch a free ride to the sun the vines have a number of adaptations for climbing. Most people know about the tendrils on grapes, pumpkins or passionfruit vines. The same tendrils that allow chokos to climb over a country dunny can be found on rainforest plants but there are many other climbing mechanisms used by rainforest vines. Tendrils are usually modified leaves, branching like the veins of a normal leaf.