The climbing fetterbush ("Pieris phillyreifolia") has a strange habit. It is a woody shrub vine which climbs without clinging roots, tendrils, or thorns. Its stem goes into a crack in the bark of fibrous barked trees (such as bald cypress). The stem flattens and grows up the tree "underneath" the host tree's outer bark. The fetterbush then sends out branches that emerge near the top of the tree.