Astounding Adaptations
“of the Rainforest”
[display sign at National Arboretum] “Equatorial warmth and moisture allow life to flourish in the jungle like nowhere else. In this setting plants exhibit countless adaptations to the teeming, screaming, abundance of living things as well as to some surprising features of the physical environment.”
Stinkers
describe the mammoth flower Rafflesia that are parasitic on vines of the genus Tetrastigma (grape family). They stink like dead animals to attract carion fly pollinators. (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines)
Woody Vines
Steal support from trees, strangler figs take the strategy another step eventually covering and killing host trees and becoming trees themselves.
Climbing Insectivorous Plants
like Nepenthes capture insects for nourishment. ”
Display sign at National Arboretum
Smithsonian, National Mall, Washington, D.C.More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest
Woody Vine at National Arboretum
Smithsonian, National Mall, Washington, D.C.More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest
