What is a specialised stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support and attachment, usually by twining around whatever it touches?
Tendril based on touch perception, plants have a form of self-discrimination and will avoid twining around themselves - demonstrating chemotropism based on chemoreception. Tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaves or petiole with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support, attachment and cellular invasion by parasitic plants, generally by twining around suitable hosts found by touch. They do not have a lamina or blade, but they can photosynthesize. They can be formed from modified shoots, modified leaves, or auxiliary branches and are sensitive to chemicals, often determining the direction of growth, as in species
Petiole (botany) fruit. "Petiole" comes from Latin "petiolus", or "peciolus" "little foot", "stem", an alternative diminutive of "pes" "foot". The regular diminutive "pediculus" is also used for "foot stalk". Petiole (botany) In botany, the petiole () is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile or epetiolate. The petiole is a stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant stem. In petiolate leaves, the leaf stalk (petiole) may be long, as in the leaves of celery and rhubarb, short