Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the Amazon rainforest, the density is as-
tonishing: tens of thousands of species of plant
can be found living on top of and around each
other. There are strangler figs (known as
matapalos
), palms, ferns, epiphytes, bromeli-
ads, flowering orchids, fungi, mosses and li-
anas, to name a few. Some rainforest trees -
such as the 'walking palm' - are supported by strange roots that look like stilts. These are
most frequently found where periodic floods occur; the stilt roots are thought to play a
role in keeping the tree upright during the inundation.
One thing that often astounds visitors is the sheer immensity of many trees. A good ex-
ample is the
ceiba
(also called the 'kapok' or cotton silk tree), which has huge flattened
trunk supports, known as buttresses, around its base. The trunk of a ceiba can easily meas-
ure 3m across and will grow straight up for 50m before the first branches are reached.
These spread out into a huge crown with a slightly flattened appearance. The staggering
height of many Amazon trees, some reaching a height of 80m-plus, creates a whole eco-
system of life at the canopy level, inhabited by creatures that never descend to the forest
floor.
Andean Botanical Information System
(
www.sacha.org
) is a veritable online encyclopedia
of flowering plants in Peru's coastal areas and the
Andes.
Desert Coast
In stark contrast to the Amazon, the coastal desert is generally barren of vegetation, apart
from around water sources, which may spring into palm-fringed lagoons. Otherwise, the
limited plant life you'll glimpse will consist of cacti and other succulents, as well as
lomas
(a blend of grasses and herbaceous species in mist-prone areas). On the far north coast, in
the ecological reserves around Tumbes (
Click here
)
, is a small cluster of mangrove
forests, as well as a tropical dry forest ecosystem, of which there is little in Peru.
