Wild Cucumber

Here's another one from yesterday's Bear Valley hike. My picture shows tendrils growing from a Wild Cucumber plant. I'm always enthralled by the way they coil into the most artistic shapes. 

 

And, if you must know, Wild Cucumber is a climbing and trailing perennial that grows from a large woody or fleshy underground root weighing as much as 100lbs.  It is because of this root that it is sometimes called manroot, and also that it is one of the first plants to reseed after a fire. The alternate leaves are 5-7 palmately lobed, heart-shaped, and up to 4" across. Tendrils used for anchoring the plant grow opposite the leaves.