Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2.48
Paraná pine (
Araucaria angustifolia
) in Aparados de Serra Park, Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil. From Por 1992. Used with permission from Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
for making bows of musical instruments (
Caesalpinia echinata
, pernambuco
or pau-brazil, from which the country takes its name). A hypercaffeinated
drink called guaraná is produced from
Paullinia cupania
that in the unre-
fi ned form imparts to the unprepared a shocking blood-red color to the
urine. Another factor in the virtual destruction of the forest and its reser-
voir of medicinal, drug, and agricultural genetic stock, is the chaotic growth
of megapopulation centers like São Paulo (more than 10 million people;
15 million in greater São Paulo) and Rio de Janeiro (11 million people; 12 mil-
lion in greater Rio de Janeiro). Less than 5 percent of the forest remains.
The Colombian Chocó
The Pacifi c lowland from Buenaventura north to Panama along the western
slopes of the Cordillera Occidental (fi gs. 2.35, 2.36) is one of the wettest
regions on Earth. It gets a maximum of about 11,770 mm of rainfall in some
