Amazon Rainforest Tours and Travel | Flora of the Amazon Rainforest
The distinct interdependent habitats of the Amazon Rainforest create the most bio-diverse region of flora in the world, including some 30,000 plant species and one-third (2,500) of the world's tree species. While too numerous to describe, some species are of special interest to visitors on Amazon tours, either because of their exquisite beauty or their unique characteristics.
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The Amazon's tallest tree is the Sumaumeira, a species of the Kapok tree, reaching 200 feet, with a diameter of over ten feet. Fast-growing, the tree is found on the floodplains of whiterivers and adjacent areas. Called "the telephone tree," it has above-ground roots that protect the trunk from flooded waters and can be beat like a drum, serving as a form of communication for the rainforest's inhabitants. The tree is pollinated by bats and blooms before new leaves appear. The tree's fruit capsules contain over 100 seeds, each surrounded by fluffy impermeable fiber, called kapok that is harvested for stuffing. The seeds and capsule are processed for a variety of uses including oil, livestock feed and a remedy for conditions such as conjunctivitis. The lightweight wood is commonly used in the manufacture of canoes, boxes and matches as well as being a component of plywood.
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Two of the Amazon's most well-known leguminous trees are the Para rubber tree from which latex is derived and the Brazil nut tree that grows only in the rainforest. Like the Para rubber tree, the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) grows wild. Ranging from 100 to 150 feet tall in virgin forests, this deciduous tree is one of the largest species in the Amazon. It is pollinated by orchid bees that are attracted by the orchid that grows in the vicinity. The baseball-sized pods that dangle from the ends of its branches fall when ripe. The shells are collected by cracking open the pods. The Bolivia Amazon accounts for about half of the annual harvest of Brazil nuts, followed by Brazil and Peru.
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The rainforest supports a range of aquatic plants, including the most dramatic of water lily species, the victoria amazonica, found in blackwater ponds, lakes and lagoons, a species that makes a dramatic subject for photographers on Amazon tours. Four or more feet in diameter, the plant's bright green leaf is a floating disk. Its maroon upturned edges, waxy surface and high salt content all help keep the enormous leaf buoyant. Spines on the underside protect it from nibbling fish. Its flower, the world's largest, floats in the water invisibly tethered to its leaf. The huge fragrant blossom opens at night, to be pollinated by beetles that remain trapped inside when the petals close at dawn, and exit the next evening when the petals reopen, bathed in pollen. After pollination, the flower turns reddish pink, signaling beetles to look for nectar elsewhere. The species is Guyana's national flower. Watching a bird skitter across the lily makes a dramatic sight for visitors on Amazon tours.
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The popular ornamental, Bird of Paradise, is one of over forty species of colorful heliconia found in the Amazon, many growing in the direct sun along shorelines. Some 2,700 colorful species of the very adaptable bromeliad family are able to grow in the rainforest's soil, on rocks and in tree trunks, retaining moisture at the base of its leaves. Orchids also grow well in these conditions.
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To be surrounded by this unique collection of awe-inspiring tropical plants and the wildlife these fragile interconnected eco-systems support is a life-altering experience of Eden for visitors on Amazon tours.
