Petrified Liana

According to mongabay.com,

"Lianas are vines that begin life on the ground as small self-supporting shrubs and rely on other plants to reach the light-rich environment of the upper canopy. Because lianas use the architecture of other plants for support, they devote relatively little to structural support and instead allocate more resources to leaf production and stem/root elongation for rapid growth."

These sections of liana reflect this growth adaptation. Clearly, there must be some vascular arrangement for transport of water within the vine; but, growth structures are not the same as say a hardwood. No growth rings are apparent.

The eye-interest in fossilized liana is in the exterior which is usually sculptured and sometimes burrowed by insects. Plant pathologies and knot-holes are evident.

There are some 90 different families of liana recognized, and I don't know to which this specimen belongs. It is characterized by being flattened side-to-side. This Florida wood, like the other examples in this album, is about 2,000,000 years old.