Sulu just kept trying to shoot at whatever roots he could see; he quickly started to regret doing that, however, when McCoy shot at the thing's mouth and the root around his arm finally decided to let go.

He fell freely for a split second before reaching out and grabbing a root, digging his nails into the bark and basically clinging to the thing as it went crazy, trying to whip him off into that hole of teeth.

This was ridiculous and Sulu said as much, shouting at the plant, "This is completely stupid!"