Snake vine

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A snake vine is a fictional plant in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

[edit] Description

A snake vine is an odd-looking vine with dusky, variegated leaves hunkered around a stem that winds a stranglehold around nearby trees, eventually killing them. They are especially notable due to their odd smell, like the "decomposition of something wholly unsavory even in life" and their distinctive pods, which stick out of the main body of the vine. The pods contain something like a big thorn which expels itself into its attacker when threatened and eerily digs its way into the attacker's body, eventually bringing on a painful fever. The thorn can be expelled through the use of a special root found in Westland mixed into a formula. Once expelled, it is anxious to find a new host and will wiggle towards any being's flesh that gets within several inches of it. The snake vine spread significantly through the Ven Forest of Westland near the boundary, causing entire portions of the forest to die, as a result of the boxes of Orden being put into play.

Richard first discovered the outbreak of the vine the hard way on a single balsam fir in Ven Forest, although he had found a sprig of the vine before at the remains of his adopted father's house in a blue clay jar he had made as a boy.