O/T Watching the grass grow

[DanEpps]

My wife and I really lead an exciting life. For example we were sitting in the gazebo by the pool this evening.

We have a flowering vine covering the fence and I was just sitting there looking at it. On of the shoots started shaking like the breeze was blowing--but there was no breeze.

I kept watching to see what was moving it, maybe a lizard (we have plenty of them). The branch "turned it's head" and started "reaching" for another branch of the same vine!!! No, its NOT the meds and my wife saw it too.

We kept watching it until it got within about 1/8" of the "target" branch (bear in mind that it has moved about a foot by now). It then sat there "looking" at the "target", sort of like a snake looking for something in a tree. A small leaf on the "target" branch slowly turned away from the "suitor." Having been "rejected", the original branch began to slowly move away and ended up about 18" away!

This gives a whole new twist on "watching the grass grow."

This is absolutely the wildest thing I have ever seen and I certainly wouldn't have told anybody about it if my wife hadn't been there and saw it too.

Now I have a whole new way to spend my time while I wait to see the doc for my back.

[Jeremy Schiffer]

That's wild Dan! If you hadn't already discounted the meds, I was going to blame them for you.
Seriously, since you're doing a lot of sitting now, get a video camera and see if you can catch it doing it again, I'd love to see it. BTW, what kind of vine is it?
I wonder if it could be trained to attack cats? People? I can think of lots of uses for something like that. heheh....

[DanEpps]

"Little Shop of Horrors", eh?

I don't know what it is, just something we bought a couple of years ago. It is an annual but reseeds itself and spreads like crazy. It grows very fast so it might just attack anything that is still for half-an-hour or so.

That's a good idea about getting video of it. I'll have to see what I can come up with so everyone will actually believe me.

[DanEpps]

Here is a two frame WMV showing three minutes movement. Download, unzip and watch in Windows Media Player.

I missed the big move while setting up the camera and tripod. I was looking for movement and when I found it I put the tripod in place. By the time I got the camera mounted and started, the vine had moved about 6 inches.

They tend to have a big spurt of movement then sit there and quiver for a while.

[Jeremy Schiffer]

That's a very creepy plant you have there Dan! (Get it? Creep-y? Creep? Move slowly? Ah, okay, not very funny.)
I just had another idea. Cross it with a Venus Fly Trap plant and let it loose in the house... not only would it eat flies, but it would hunt them down!