Tropical Rainforest Plants Epiphytes

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Tropical Rainforest Plants Epiphytes

Epiphytes are plants that live on other plants. Plants in the tropical rainforest.

Epiphytes Plants

They often grow on trees to take advantage of sunlight in the canopy.

Tropical rainforest plants epiphytes. Epiphyte any plant that grows upon another plant or object merely for physical support. They break away from the traditional idea of plants needing soil and ground and show that these species can literally grow wherever. Epiphytes are adapted to the rainforest in two ways.

These plants are attached to their hosts high in the canopy so that they can compete with other plants for water tapped from rain fog dew or mist. Some of the better known epiphytes include ferns lichens mosses cacti bromeliads over 2000 species and orchids. Epiphytes or air plants grow everywhere but can be found mainly on the branches trunks and even the leaves of trees.

There are over 20000 species of orchid most of which are epiphytes. Epiphytes may be familiar to people in temperate climates because many house plants and air plants are actually epiphytes from the rainforest. Epiphytes are an amazing group of plants and show their resilience and adaptability to the elements.

Tropical rainforest plants list epiphytes epiphytes are plants that live on other plants. In tropical rainforests many plants live as epiphytes to receive the necessary sunlight and moisture to complete their life cycle. Epiphytes have no attachment to the ground or other obvious nutrient source and are not parasitic on the supporting plants.

Most epiphytes are found in moist tropical areas. First they gain their moisture from the humid atmosphere rather than relying on ground water allowing them to live. Orchids are very common plants in the tropical rainforest.

A few plants that are more complex also shrivel when they are dry and resurrect when they become wet. They dont have roots in the ground and have evolved various strategies for obtaining water and nutrients. The name epiphyte comes from the greek word epi meaning upon and phyton meaning plant.

Sometimes a single tree can be home to many different epiphyte species together weighing several. Epiphytes are plants that live on the surface of other plants especially the trunks and branches. Orchids are the most successful epiphytes of the tropical rainforest.

One type of plant often found in a rainforest is an epiphyte. Tropical rainforests such as the amazon rainforest in south america daintree rainforest in australia and the congo rainforest in africa are home to an incredible number of plants. One of these is the epiphytic staghorn fern platycerium.

Epiphytes Of Belize Marie Selby Botanical Gardens