Park ranger Teco (Moises Daniel Perez Diaz) kindly sent us this photo of the buds of a vine named bejuco lambedor. It has this name because if you are on a motorcycle and driving through the rain forest and your head brushes against this vine, it leaves burning mark on your skin; leaves a wound.
The vine produces drinkable water (evidently no wounds on your throat or lips). Literally; local people out in the rain forests of Peten (chicleros, xateros, etc.) routinely drink water from four plants:
- Bejuco lambedor
- Bejuco de Estrella
- Bejuco de uva
- Raiz del palo de copo
We see these leaves everywhere, but this is the first time we have seen the flower buds. We hope in the future to be able to receive photos from Teco of the actual flowers. We (FLAAR Mesoamerica) provide mobile phone cameras and Internet to plant scouts so they can find awesome plants in the areas where they live and work.
Flower buds of vine bejuco lambedor. It looks like a shrub but evidently is a vine since it’s local name is “bejuco.”
Photograph by Moises Daniel Perez Diaz, road from Yaxha to Nakum (PNYNN), Peten, Guatemala. January 14, 2021, 12:37 pm.
I estimate this may be a species of genus Cissus, but I will need to see the flowers when they open.
Posted January 19, 2021
