Tropical forest plants: list, types, names, descriptions and photos.

Wet equatorial forests- the birthplace of one of the richest floras in the world, as well as a huge storehouse of valuable wood, many useful and medicinal plants. Due to the difficult terrain, the vegetation of tropical forests has not yet been studied enough. Scientists have established that over 20 thousand flowering plants and about 3 thousand tree species. The forests of South America have a richer flora than those of Africa and Southeast Asia.

General characteristics of the vegetation of equatorial forests

The tropical forest has a complex multi-tiered structure. Trees are distinguished by weakly branching, tall trunks with underdeveloped bark, reaching up to 80 m in height and having elongated board-like roots at the base. Most of the trees are densely entwined with creepers.

Plants and shrubs of the middle tier have wide leaves that help them absorb the light of sunlight under dense crowns more tall trees. The surface of the leaves is mostly leathery, shiny and has a dark green color. The grass cover under the forest canopy is represented by shrubs, mosses and lichens. Another one salient feature tropical vegetation- thin tree bark with fruits and flowers growing on it.

Consider some wet plants equatorial forests details:

Vegetation is represented by a huge variety of extra-tiered plants - epiphytes and lianas. More than 200 species of palms and ficuses, about 70 species of bamboo plants, 400 species of ferns and 700 species of orchids grow here. Vegetable world tropics is different on different continents. In the tropics of South America, ficuses and palm trees, bananas, Brazilian hevea, fragrant cedar (cigarette cases are made from its wood) grow widely. Ferns, creepers and shrubs grow in the lower tiers. Of the epiphytes, orchids and bromeliads are widely found. In the African rainforests, the most common trees are the legume family, the coffee and cocoa trees, and the oil palm.

Lianas. The most famous representatives of the flora of the rainforest. They are distinguished by strong and large woody stems reaching a length of over 70 m. West Africa. The legumes of this creeper contain physostigmine, which is used in glaucoma.

Ficus stranglers. Seeds germinate, falling into the crevices of the trunks. The roots then form a tight frame around the host tree that keeps the ficus alive, preventing its growth and causing death.

Hevea brazilian. Rubber extracted from the milky sap of the tree makes up about 90% of its production in the world.

Ceiba. It reaches a height of up to 70 m. Oil is obtained from the seeds for the production of soap, and cotton fiber is extracted from the fruits, which are stuffed with upholstered furniture, toys and used for heat and sound insulation.

Oil palm. From its fruits they extract Palm oil”, from which candles, margarine and soap are produced, and sweet juice is drunk fresh or used for the production of wines and alcoholic beverages.

For most people in our country, the change of seasons seems to be a completely natural phenomenon. Indeed, how could it be otherwise. But in tropical rainforests, very little is known about this. And all because here the difference between summer and winter, spring and autumn is not felt at all. But here they know firsthand what rains and downpours are. And it's no coincidence rainforests called wet.

Where are these tropical forests located?

Of course, their main habitat is the equatorial zone. On both sides, forests occupy a fairly large area. They take over South America, Africa and South East Asia. But most of all, all the inhabitants of the planet know the forests in the Amazon basin.

The Amazon forests are recognized as reference. But there are also larger arrays. Tropical rainforests are found in Asian countries such as Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia and further extend into areas of Northern Australia. The African continent is replete with such forests.

There is no doubt that the rainforest, when viewed from above, resembles a green carpet. Sometimes it seems endless, as it often stretches from horizon to horizon. You can see winding rivers and even lakes there. But they often live on them too tropical plants. The comparison with the sea comes to mind. It also sways and has the same mystery and power in it.

It is generally accepted that the climate is hot in the equatorial regions. However, on average, the temperature ranges from 24 - 20 to 33 - 36 degrees with a plus sign. Precipitation falls regularly, almost daily. Perhaps there is even some kind of "celestial timetable" when the day begins with clear skies and bright sun. By noon, clouds are gathering, and rain and thunderstorms are pouring. But the rains are short and soon it shines again bright sun against the backdrop of a clear sky. This scenario may repeat itself several times during the day. Sunrise always occurs around six in the morning, but after six in the evening you can watch a rapid sunset. This mystery lasts every day, every month and for many, many years and millennia in a row.

Experts say that these grow amazing forests on the most ancient soils that can only be found on the planet today. Their formation is attributed in time to the Tertiary period. All this time maternal rocks destroyed by tree roots, wind and water. Animals also played a significant role in this, scratching and tearing the rock with their claws.

It is the destroyed and ground rocks that make up the layer, the thickness of which reaches twenty meters. in the soil a large number of iron oxides and all because heavy rainfall wash out most chemical substances. Therefore, the color of the soil has a reddish tint. They are also called ferralitic soils or silica, that is, rich in iron.

At first glance, it might seem that these heavenly places the soil is exceptionally fertile. Such abundant vegetation should create a lot of humus. But not everything is so simple. The most necessary substances, such as phosphorus, calcium and nitrogen, can be seen little. They are mostly found in the plants themselves. When they die, their substances do not even have time to get into the soil, as they are immediately "captured" by the roots of living plants. And so the eternal cycle goes on.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the rainforest is impenetrable. That is, it is so densely populated with various plants that it will not be possible to immediately find a piece of free space. But in reality, everything turns out to be exactly the opposite. Once in a tropical rainforest, you can find that there is not just enough free space, but a lot. And all because the trees, reaching for the sun and having large crowns, are literally intertwined with each other. This can be compared to a giant umbrella through which sunlight passes extremely poorly. He stays up there. Therefore, the soil around the trees does not dry out and it is always dark or twilight there. In such conditions, few plants will agree to live. This is what is main reason a lot of free space. Although there are plants that are ready to endure hardships sunlight. But they often grow in such a way that their roots do not cling to the soil.

Imagine that while watching the rainforest, standing in one place, you will not see two identical trees. It really is. On one hectare of tropical forest, up to one hundred species of plants can simultaneously exist. But even if you count only fifty, it is also not a little. Forests in the Congo Basin and Indonesia are often cited as examples.

forest hierarchy

When they say the word forest, they most often think of trees. This is true for the rainforest as well. It is the trees that make up 70% of the basis of the forest. But all this community is divided into three stages:

• the lower one, which can rarely be found, is about 10 meters high;
• medium, these are trees 20 - 30 meters high;
• the top, these are giants, reaching up to 50 - 60 meters in height.

A huge multi-level green carpet is complemented by shrubs and a variety of herbs. All of them have passed the test and are able to survive in conditions of constant shade. But they still have a subordinate position.

Lianas can be observed near the rivers. There are many of them and flexible trunks of creepers cover trees. So they grow and, descending from a height, form a real green curtain. Lianas grow mainly in tropical forests. Of all the plants, they are the most amazing. They exist on the trunks of tall trees, covering them with their flexible trunks. But if they are straightened, then the length of their creepers will surpass the largest giants. So they live a tree for a long time, until someday it falls.

In order to survive in difficult tropical conditions, some plants have come up with original way moisture retention and nutrients. Existing on trees, sometimes their roots are not even able to reach the soil. Often they don't need it anymore. Indeed, in order to accumulate the necessary resources, they created special cavities in the stems. You can often see leaves as storage, they are like real reservoirs for rainwater. Roots that have not reached the soil are able to absorb the necessary substances directly from the air.

Everyone will be fed by the "breadfruit" tree

Among exotic trees growing in a humid and warm climate, there are those that allow the local inhabitants not to die of hunger. They are called "edible" trees. The inhabitants of Oceania highly value coke palms. Thanks to them, they are provided not only with milk, but also with butter. There are also breadfruit trees. For residents of the northern regions, this may seem like a fantasy. However, the dough from which something similar to bread is baked grows on a tree. A person receives it already in finished form. These are trees of the mulberry family. Each fruit, from which bread can be baked, can reach a weight of 12 kg. It is tempting to plant such a tree and not know the need for this product for 70-75 years. It is estimated that only one tree during the year will bear up to 800 fruits. But breadfruit can give not only bread. Fruits that are not ripe are used to make drinks.

Inhabitants African continent and the islands of Madagascar are also familiar with breadfruit. In each locality, they have their own differences, but in general, the essence of its use does not change.

Trees are able to feed not only bread and milk. The sago palm, which grows in New Guinea, makes it possible to bake pancakes. But if it is cut down before flowering, then the core is rich in starch. His in a special way process and receive sago.

Milk growing on trees, not only appearance resembles cow's milk, but also in composition. It is no coincidence that even real cottage cheese can be made at high temperatures. Well, sausage trees are usually familiar to all lovers of the exotic. But here the composition of the fruit only in appearance resembles this delicacy.

Tropical rainforests stretch over large areas on both sides of the equator, but do not go beyond the tropics. Here the atmosphere is always rich in water vapor. Lowest average temperature about 18 °, and the highest is usually not higher than 35-36 °.

With abundant heat and moisture, everything here grows with remarkable speed. Spring and autumn are imperceptible in these forests. All year long, some trees and shrubs bloom in the forest, others fade. It is summer all year round and the vegetation is green. There is no leaf fall in our understanding of the word, when the forest is exposed by winter.

The change of leaves occurs gradually, and therefore it is not noticed. On some branches, young leaves bloom, often bright red, brown, white. On other branches of the same tree, the leaves were fully formed and turned green. A very beautiful range of colors is created.

But there are bamboos, palm trees, some types of coffee trees, which, over many square kilometers, bloom all at once in one day. This amazing phenomenon makes a stunning impression of the beauty of flowering and aromas.

Travelers say that in such a forest it is difficult to meet two neighboring trees belonging to the same species. Only in very rare cases, tropical forests of a uniform species composition.

If you look at the rainforest from above, from an airplane, it will appear surprisingly uneven, sharply broken, not at all like the flat surface of a forest of temperate latitudes.

They are not similar in color. Oak and our other forests, when viewed from above, seem to be uniformly green, only with the advent of autumn they dress up in bright and variegated colors.

The equatorial forest, when viewed from above, seems to be a mixture of all tones of green, olive, yellow, interspersed with red and white spots of flowering crowns.

Entering the rainforest is not so easy: usually it is a dense thicket of plants, where, at first glance, they all seem to be tangled, intertwined. And it is difficult to immediately figure out which plant this or that trunk belongs to - but where are its branches, fruits, flowers?

Damp twilight reigns in the forest. The rays of the sun weakly penetrate into the thicket, so trees, shrubs, all plants stretch upward with amazing force. They branch a little, only in three - four orders. One involuntarily recalls our oaks, pines, birches, which give five to eight orders of branches and widely spread their crowns in the air.

In the equatorial forests, trees stand in thin, slender columns and somewhere at a height, often 50-60 meters, they carry small crowns to the Sun.

The lowest branches begin twenty to thirty meters from the ground. To see the leaves, flowers, fruits, you need good binoculars.

Palm trees, tree ferns do not give branches at all, throwing out only huge leaves.

Giant columns need good foundations, like buttresses (slopes) of ancient buildings. And nature took care of them. In the African equatorial forests, ficuses grow, from the lower parts of the trunks of which additional - plank - roots develop up to a meter or more in height. They hold the tree firmly against the wind. Many trees have such roots. On the island of Java, residents make table covers or cart wheels from plank roots.

Trees of smaller height, four or five tiers densely grow between giant trees, bushes even lower. Fallen trunks and leaves rot on the ground. The trunks are twined with vines.

Hooks, spikes, mustaches, roots - by all means, creepers cling to tall neighbors, twist around them, crawl along them, use devices known to the people as "devil's hooks", "cat's claws". They intertwine with each other, sometimes merging into one plant, then separating again in an unstoppable desire for light.

These thorny barriers terrify the traveler, who is forced to take every step among them only with the help of an ax.

In America, through the valleys of the Amazon, in virgin tropical rainforests creepers, like ropes, are thrown from one tree to another, climb up the trunk to the very top and settle comfortably in the crown.

Fight for the world! In a tropical rainforest, there are usually few grasses on the soil, and shrubs are also few in number. Everything that lives must receive some share of the light. And many plants succeed in this because the leaves on the trees are almost always located vertically or at a significant angle, and the surface of the leaves is smooth, shiny and perfectly reflects light. This arrangement of leaves is also good because it softens the force of the impacts of rain showers. Yes, and prevents stagnation of water on the leaves. It is easy to imagine how quickly the leaves would fail if water lingered on them: lichens, mosses, fungi would populate them immediately.

But for the full development of plants on the soil, there is not enough light. How then to explain their diversity and splendor?

Many tropical plants have nothing to do with the soil at all. These are epiphyte plants - lodgers. They don't need soil. Trunks, branches, even tree leaves give them an excellent shelter, and everyone has enough heat and moisture. In the axils of the leaves, in the crevices of the bark, a little humus forms between the branches. Wind, animals will bring seeds, and they germinate and develop perfectly.

The very common bird's nest fern produces leaves up to three meters long, forming a rather deep rosette. Leaves, bark flakes, fruits, animal remains fall into it from trees, and in a humid warm climate they quickly form humus: the “soil” is ready for the roots of the epiphyte.

In the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta, they show such a huge fig tree that they mistake it for a whole grove. Its branches have grown above the ground in the form of a green roof, which is supported on pillars - these are adventitious roots growing from the branches. The crown of the fig tree is spread over more than half a hectare, the number of its aerial roots is about five hundred. And this fig tree began its life as a freeloader on date palm. Then she entwined her with her roots and strangled her.

The position of epiphytes is very advantageous compared to the "host" tree, which they use, making their way higher and higher towards the light.

Often they carry their leaves above the top of the "host" trunk and take away the sun's rays from it. The "owner" dies, and the "tenant" becomes independent.

Tropical forests are best described by the words of Charles Darwin: "The greatest sum of life is carried out with the greatest variety of structure."

Some epiphytes have thick fleshy leaves, some swellings on the leaves. They have a supply of water - in case it is not enough.

In others, the leaves are leathery, hard, as if varnished, as if they lack moisture. The way it is. In the hot time of the day, and even with strong wind, in a highly raised crown, the evaporation of water increases sharply.

Another thing is the leaves of shrubs: they are tender, large, without any adaptations to reduce evaporation - in the depths of the forest it is small. Herbs are soft, thin, with weak roots. There are many spore plants, especially ferns. They spread their sheets on the edges of the forest and in rare lighted clearings. Here are brightly flowering shrubs, large yellow and red cannes, orchids with their intricately arranged flowers. But grasses are much less diverse than trees.

General green tone herbaceous plants pleasantly interspersed with white, red, gold, silver leaf spots. Whimsically patterned, they are not inferior in beauty to the flowers themselves.

It may seem at first glance that the tropical forest is poor in flowers. In fact, they are not so few
they are simply lost in the green mass of foliage.

Many trees have self- or wind-pollinated flowers. Large bright and fragrant flowers are pollinated by animals.

In the rainforests of America, tiny hummingbirds in brilliant plumage hover over flowers for a long time, licking honey from them with a long tongue folded in the form of a tube. In Java, birds often act as pollinators. There are honey birds, small, similar in color to hummingbirds. They pollinate flowers, but at the same time they often “steal” honey without even touching the stamens and pistils. In Java there is the bats, pollinating creepers with brightly colored flowers.

In a cocoa tree, breadfruit, persimmon, ficus, flowers appear directly on the trunks, which then turn out to be completely hung with fruits.

In the equatorial humid forests, swamps are often found, flowing lakes come across. Animal world very varied here. Most animals live on trees, eating fruits.

Rainforests different continents have a lot of common features and at the same time each one is different from the others.

There are many trees in the Asian forests with valuable timber, plants that give spices (pepper, cloves, cinnamon). Monkeys climb in the crowns of trees. An elephant roams on the outskirts of the tropical thicket. Rhinos, tigers, buffaloes, poisonous snakes live in the forests.

The humid equatorial forests of Africa are famous for their impenetrable thickets. Without an ax or a knife, it is impossible to make your way here. And there are many tree species with valuable wood. The oil palm tree is often found, from the fruits of which oil, coffee tree and cocoa are extracted. In places in narrow hollows, where fogs accumulate and mountains do not let them go, tree-like ferns form whole groves. Heavy dense fogs slowly creep up and, cooling down, pour heavy rains. In such natural greenhouses, spores feel the best: ferns, horsetails, club mosses, curtains of delicate green mosses descend from the trees.

Gorillas and chimpanzees live in African forests. Monkeys tumble in the branches; baboons bark in the air. There are elephants, buffaloes. Crocodiles prey on all kinds of animals in the rivers. Frequent encounters with a hippopotamus.

And everywhere mosquitoes, mosquitoes fly in clouds, hordes of ants crawl. Perhaps even this "little thing" is more noticeable than large animals. It disturbs the traveler at every turn, stuffing itself into the mouth, nose and ears.

The relationship of tropical plants with ants is very interesting. On the island of Java, in one epiphyte, the stem below is a tuber. Ants lodge in it and leave their excrement on the plant, which serve as fertilizer for it.

In the rain forests of Brazil, there are real ant gardens. At a height of 20-30 meters above the ground, ants arrange their nests, dragging seeds, leaves, berries and seeds onto branches and trunks along with earth. Of these, young plants sprout, fastening the earth in the nest with roots and immediately receiving soil and fertilizers.

But ants are not always harmless to plants. Leaf cutter ants are a real scourge. They attack coffee and orange trees and other plants in droves. Having cut pieces from the leaves, they put them on their backs and move in continuous green streams to the nests, baring the branches,

Fortunately, other types of ants can settle on plants, which destroy these robbers.

The tropical forests of America along the banks of the Amazon River and its tributaries are considered the most luxurious in the world.

Vast flat expanses, regularly flooded with water during the flood of rivers, are covered with coastal forests. Above the spill boundary stretch huge virgin forests. And the drier regions are occupied by forests, although less dense and lower.

There are especially many in the coastal forests of palm trees, which form entire groves, running in long alleys along the banks of the rivers. Some of the palms scatter their leaves in a fan, others stretch pinnate leaves 9-12 meters long. Their trunks are straight, thin. In the undergrowth are small palm trees with clusters of black and red fruits.

Palm trees give a lot to people: the fruits are used for food, the locals get fibers from the stems and leaves, and the trunks are used as building material.

As soon as the rivers enter their course, grasses develop with extraordinary speed in the forests, and not only on the soil. Hanging from trees and bushes are green garlands of climbing and climbing herbaceous plants, colored bright flowers. Passion flowers, begonias, day beauties"and many other flowering plants form draperies on the trees, as if laid out by the artist's hand.

Beautiful myrtle, brazil nuts, flowering ginger, cannes. Ferns and graceful feathery mimosas support the overall green tone.

In the forests above the flood line, trees, perhaps the tallest of all tropical representatives, stand in a dense close formation on props. Notable among these are the Brazil nut and the mulberry cotton plant, with its enormous plank poles. Laurels are considered the most beautiful trees in the Amazon. There are a lot of acacias from legumes, a lot of aroids. Philodendron and monstera are especially good with fantastic cuts and cuts on the leaves. There is often no undergrowth in this forest.

In less tall, unflooded forests, lower tree tiers of palms, shrubs and low trees appear, sometimes very dense and almost impassable.

The grassy cover cannot be called luxurious: a few ferns, sedges. In some places, there is not a single blade of grass in a large area.

Almost the entire Amazonian lowland and part of the northern and east coasts The mainland is occupied by moist forests.

flat heat and the abundance of precipitation make all days look like one another.

Early in the morning the temperature is 22-23°, the sky is cloudless. The leaves are dewy and fresh, but the heat is rising rapidly. By noon and a little later, it is already unbearable. Plants drop leaves and flowers and seem to be completely wilted. No air movement, the animals hid. But now the sky is covered with clouds, lightning flashes, thunder is deafening.

Crowns are shaken by sharp gusts of wind. And the blessed downpour enlivens all nature. It floats strongly in the air. A sultry, hot, and damp night sets in. Leaves and flowers plucked by the wind fly.

A special type of forest covers in tropical countries the sea coasts, protected from waves and winds. These are mangrove forests - dense thickets evergreen shrubs and low trees on flat banks near river mouths, in lagoons, bays. The soil here is a swamp with black, foul-smelling silt; it undergoes rapid decomposition with the participation of bacteria organic matter. At high tide, such thickets appear to emerge from the water.

With the ebb, their so-called roots are exposed - stilts, which stretch far along the silt. From the branches in the silt there are still roots-props.

Such a system of roots well establishes the trees in silty soil, and they are not carried away by the tide.

Mangroves push the coast to the sea, because plant residues accumulate between the roots and trunks and, mixing with silt, gradually form land. Trees have special respiratory roots, which are very important in the life of these plants, since the silt contains almost no oxygen. Sometimes they are serpentine in shape, at other times they resemble a bent pipe or stick out of the silt like young stems.

The method of reproduction found in mangroves is curious. The fruit is still hanging on the tree, and the embryo is already sprouting in the form of a long, up to 50-70 centimeters, pin. Only then does it break away from the fruit, fall into the silt, burrowing into it with its end, and it is not carried away by water into the sea.

These plants have leathery, shiny, often fleshy leaves covered with silvery hairs. The leaves are arranged vertically, the stomata are reduced. All these are signs of plants of arid places.

It turns out a paradox: the roots are immersed in silt, they are constantly under water, and the plant lacks moisture. It is assumed that sea ​​water, with its saturation with salt, cannot be easily absorbed by the roots of trees and shrubs - and therefore they must evaporate sparingly.

Together with sea ​​water plants get a lot table salt. The leaves are sometimes almost completely covered with its crystals, isolated by special glands.

The richness of species in tropical forests is exceptionally great, and it is achieved primarily by the fact that the use of space by plants is brought here by natural selection to the extremes.

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Indonesia is the largest island state, which includes many islands. The most famous of them are Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali. Indonesia's tropical rainforests are extremely biodiverse and account for 10 percent of the world's tropical rainforests. There meet famous and completely unique plants that dazzle the imagination. In terms of richness and diversity of vegetation, none of the tropical countries of the Eastern Hemisphere can be compared with the islands of the Indonesian archipelago.

Tropical trees - useful and decorative

More than half of the entire area of ​​the islands is covered by tropical evergreen rainforests, which are called lungs of the planet. The climate of Indonesia is oceanic, monsoonal, with a humidity of 80-90 percent, average annual temperatures about plus 26 degrees Celsius. Almost all known tropical cultures are found there, there are plants that are native to Indonesia. In total - about 40 thousand species.

Several types of palm trees grow on the islands: sago, coconut, sugar, oil, banana. The latter are considered sacred, they develop very well and bear fruit, but banana groves require constant renewal after fruiting.

Coconuts and bananas are eaten, oil and sugar are obtained from palms and their fruits. Palm trees are used as building materials, and their leaves are used to make roofs for pagodas.

The most common plants are different kinds bamboo, some specimens of which reach 30-40 cm in diameter and 20 m in height. Bamboo, along with other wood species, is versatile and cheap. building material for the inhabitants of the islands and is used for handicrafts.

Well-known fruit trees- fig (fig), mango, rambutan, breadfruit and cucumber trees, coffee tree. There are fragrant cloves and pepper trees. Many species grow in the forests, from which rubber is obtained (various types of ficuses). There are trees with valuable wood: sandalwood, camphor, ebony ("black"), casuarine ("red"), crocodile (very light wood). Teak wood and rattan liana make excellent and durable furniture.

There are many plants of the ficus family in the forests, multi-stemmed ficuses that form a tree-forest are interesting, there is a strangler ficus, which, wrapping around other plants, completely suppresses their growth. In Indonesia, there is a wide variety of tree ferns - plant relics that have been preserved since ancient times. In the eastern part of the archipelago, eucalyptus and other plants of the Australian flora are found. Near the ocean on the coast you can often see mangroves - these plants have adapted to salt water.

Flowering plants give a special charm to tropical countries, and flowering here lasts all year round- some plants replace others. Tropical plants grow in Indonesia, characteristic of hot and humid equatorial climate, for example, universal bougainvillea creepers, which have beautifully colored bracts of crimson, pink, yellow, cream, orange tones. They are used as lianas for vertical gardening, they are formed in the form of small flowering trees planted in containers.

Hibiscus of various colors adorn the gardens and parks of the islands. Often used in the design of cities are low plumeria trees with spectacular, rather large flowers of white, pink, cyclamen and red. Women decorate their hairstyles with these flowers.

In the tropics, tall strelitzia and helicornia grow wildly and almost continuously bloom, having unusual, drooping, spike-shaped inflorescences of yellow-red color, purple alpinia with pink-red bracts. These plants have long been grown in the greenhouses of the Old World. Helicornia, alpinia and strelitzia are often used in tropical countries for arranging bouquets.

But most of all, orchids are found on the islands of Indonesia. These plants do not need soil, just a little bark or a hollow of a tree, half a coconut is enough. Among them there are various phalaenopsis, cymbidiums, dendrobiums, vandas, stanhopeis and others. The colors and flower shape of orchids delight, and some species have a subtle and delicate aroma. The flowers remain decorative on the plant for up to 2 months, and in the cut up to a month. With the development of biotechnology methods (accelerated reproduction using tissue culture), Indonesia, like many others, tropical countries, grows a large number of orchids for export.

Carnivorous plants - exotic Indonesia

Insectivorous plants often have modified leaves in the form of a deep jug. To attract insects, on the inner surface of the jug there are cells that secrete inviting nectar, and hair cells that hold insects. Some jars contain up to 2 liters of water, in which insects drown. The smooth neck of the upper part of the jug does not allow trapped animals to get out. Most large species insectivorous plants are "caught" even small birds, mice, rats, frogs. For the processing of "caught" victims, the plant secretes special enzymes. One of the types of insectivorous plants - nepentes - can be found on our sale. For its maintenance in room conditions are required high humidity and temperature or conservatory conditions.

Another large flower forms a giant amorphophallus, it has a height of 2.2-3.5 m, weighs about 7 kg, and also has a disgusting smell, reminiscent of the smell rotten eggs, spoiled fish or meat. This is the tallest flower in the world. The predator plant blooms extremely rarely (twice in 40 years), attracting insects with a putrid smell, “catches” and then “digests” them.

It is interesting that one of the types of amorphophallus is grown in our country as indoor plant. It has a large tuber, from which one large carved leaf develops, but if the amorphophallus blooms (which happens infrequently), then the flower has to be taken out of the room because of the disgusting smell.

Text and photo: Natalia Yurtaeva, landscape designer

Hello, dear readers of the site "I and the World"! Today we will talk about the so-called lungs of our planet - tropical forests. We will tell you: where they grow, what animals and plants can be seen in these forests, why they are called the lungs of the planet.

What's this?

What is a tropical forest? This is a vast territory in the tropical, equatorial and subequatorial belts, overgrown evergreen trees where only their special plants and animals meet. The green belt of these forests stretches across Asia, Australia, Africa, Central and South America and through many islands Pacific Ocean. Fairly mild climate without hot and cold weather at a temperature of 20 to 35 degrees.

Different parts of the tropics

Among all tropical forests, wet (rain) and seasonal are distinguished. The first are characterized large quantity precipitation per year, and the latter grow where, despite moisture, there are periods of drought. The tropical rainforests of Atsinanana, growing in the east of the island of Madagascar, stand out separately.

These are ancient relic plants, formed about 60 million years ago, but now they are under the threat of destruction. Unique places with over 12,000 plant species and 78 wingless mammals.

At one of the Chinese resorts of Yalunvan, tropical forests are presented in a huge Botanical Garden. More than 1,200 species of plants grow on its territory, some of which are difficult to find in wildlife.

Another area of ​​the tropical jungle in China is Yanoda, which occupies 123 square meters. km. Madly beautiful orchids, huge trees, exotic birds.

The park is located on the island of Hainan, 35 km from the city of Sanya, from which you can get both by regular bus and tourist bus. Here you can also relax on the beach in Dadonghai.

In one of the tribes Latin America local sorcerers pray daily for heaven to send rain to the earth. It would seem, well, why constantly water the already waterlogged soil. There is only one answer: there will be no showers - huge forests will disappear, and without them all of humanity will disappear, because it is not for nothing that the tropics are considered the lungs of the planet.

Flora and fauna

Many types of local vegetation grow only here, and the abundance of insects, and snakes, is distinctive feature these places. Animals mainly live in trees - these are mainly marmosets and cebids. There are quite a few ungulates: baker pigs and undersized pointed deer. Lots of reptiles and amphibians.

- This is a zone of tropical vegetation in 6,700,000 square meters. km, which is located along the river. The jungle is represented by a huge number various types flora and fauna. 40,000 plant species, 1300 birds, 5500 fish, 430 mammals and 1400 amphibians and reptiles.

The largest rodent on the planet, the capybara, lives in the Amazon, as well as the Brazilian otter, giant anteater, spider-like monkeys, howler monkeys, Amazonian dolphins and many other animals, including titan lumberjacks, the largest bugs on the planet that are dangerous to humans. , because with their tongs they can easily break a pencil.

Barriers to Growth

In the Amazon, there is a problem of cutting down trees - since the end of the last century, more than 750,000 square meters have been destroyed here. km. Environmental problems associated with the disappearance of the tropics around the world are shown in artistic and documentaries, as well as in cartoons for kids. We recommend watching one of these cartoons, Fern Valley, which is like a manifesto against corporations cutting down ancient trees.

The rainforest of India is valuable tree species over 20,000 species. And if on other continents slowly, but the vegetation disappears, then India restores its wealth.

The diversity of the animal world is enormous. The inhabitants of only one of the islands of Kalimantan are 7 times more than in the whole of Europe. What are the names of all representatives of the flora and fauna of this beautiful country is difficult to list in one article.

The tropics on the world map are located between 25°N. and 30 ° S, as if encircling the planet with a green ribbon. The names and classification of forests are presented in the description and in the photo.

Video for children