The Liana That Ripens from Green to Brown

On the dirt path that cuts through the tropical forest of the reserve, Michel Salas stopped before a liana hanging generously from the canopy, its foliage a brilliant green that seemed to drink in all the morning light. Notebook in hand, Michel lifted a branch to examine it more closely: it belongs to the family Sapindaceae, a group that ranges from the mamoncillo to the guaraná, and that in these forests finds its wildest expression as a climbing vine. The fruits had barely appeared, still green and unripe, holding the quiet promise of turning brown when their time comes. As Michel noted down the details, a brown dog wandered along the path behind him, indifferent to the discovery, as though the forest were the most natural place in the world to spend an afternoon. The coordinates were recorded, the photographs taken, and the liana went on hanging over the trail, as still and patient as ever.