Plant Portraits 12. Bounty from the Amazon

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

Descending from the montane rain forests of the Andes, we enter into the vast neotropical rain forest biome. Dominated by the forest of the Amazon Basin, the tropical forests extend northward into western Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, and the Guyanas, and up into southern Mexico. A narrow strip also occupies coastal mountains near Rio de Janeiro.  This biome contains one of the richest diversities of plant life on Earth. Here we explore some of the edible contributions of the rain forest.

   

A family of the rain forest harvests the fruit of the Aroid, Monstera deliciosa. All parts of the plant, including the unripe fruits, are loaded with highly irritant calcium oxalate crystals, as is characteristic of the entire Aroid family (Araceae). The famous Dumbcane (Dieffenbachia spp.), is so named because of this. Someone who accidentally puts some of the plant in their mouth (or is forced to do so as a punishment!} will not be able to speak because their mouth is so painfully swollen. So the family must be careful to eat only the fully ripened portions of the fruit, when the scales of the fruit loosen and start to fall off (the whole fruit does not ripen at the same time!). At that point the fruit is safe, soft, and delicious, said to have a flavor like a mix of banana, pineapple, mango or strawberry - a natural fruit smoothy.

 

 

 

 

 Montrichardia arborescens, an aroid indigenous to the flooded edges of Amazonian rivers, also produces an edible fruit, but valued most for the edible seeds within the fruit.  Again, caution must be used to avoid calcium oxalate crystals. Seeds of this and other edible aroids are generally roasted (like the tubers of Taro, another aroid) to break down the crystals. 

 

 

An Amazonian family gathers Acai fruits from the indigenous palm, Euterpe oleracea. This is the source of acai juice, touted these days as a miracle food for its concentrated mix of antioxidants.

 

Vanilla flavoring comes from the seed pods of the vanilla orchid, The genus Vanilla contains over 100 species occurring worldwide, with some even in southern Florida. Of these only Vanilla planifolia is used for the commercial production of vanilla essence. 

Agoutis are the only indigenous animals with jaws and teeth strong enough to gnaw through the tough capsule of the Brazil nut (Bertholettia excelsa, family Lecythidaceae). The two species co-evolved, resulting in a reliable source of food for the Agoutis, and a means of seed dispersal for the trees. Like North American squirrels, Agoutis bury many of the seeds they gather and often forget where they put them. These germinate, producing new trees. The tough seed pods prevent other animals from accessing the seeds, which would likely not leave enough seeds to produce the next generation.

Plant Portraits 11. South American Treasures

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

  South America provides a diverse landscape of grasslands, deserts, mountains, and rain forests. Each provides sustenance and, in season, spectacular wildflower displays. 

 

The vast grasslands of Argentina and neighboring countries are known as the Pampas. Several palms make their home here, including the Syagrus romanzoffianum palms shown here. Philodendron selloum, a ubiquitous landscape plant in warm climates everywhere, is native to thickets and forest edges bordering on the Pampas. Giant, flightless Rhea birds make their home here.feeding on foliage, fruits, insects, and other small animals.

 

 

During the rainy season, the Pampas turns into a colorful mosaic of wildflowers, including the blue Commelina erecta, red Glandularia peruviana, and yellow Chrysocephalum apiculatum pictured here. The giant Pampas grass, Cortaderia sellowana, also makes its home here. 

In the Andes, which run the length of South America, wildflowers also abound, including the red and purple Fuchsia magellanica, scarlet Anagallis arvensis, and the orange-yellow  Chuquiraga jussieui, pictured here. In a remarkable example of convergent evolution, Puya raimondii is a giant bromeliad (relative of the pineapple) that blooms just once after many decades, similar to the North American Century Plants (Agave spp) which are in an unrelated family.

 

 

In the cloud forests of the Andes, Anthurium andreanum evolved bright red-colored spathes, a rarity in the Aroid family, to attract hummingbirds, who feed on nectar produced by the tiny flowers on the spadix, and transfer pollen from one plant to another. Passiflora edulis, on the other hand, is blue-colored to attract large bees, such as carpenter bees, who feed on the nectar and transport pollen.

Passiflora tripartita, one of some 550 species found in tropical America, has specialized flowers with long nectar tubes, that hang upside-down, classic adaptations for pollination by hovering hummingbirds.

 

Fuchsia magellanica, one of over 100 species native to tropical America, has red and purple pendant flowers adapted for hummingbird pollination, similar to many species of Passiflora. This is anther example of convergent evolution. 

 The Inca culture of the Andes highlands was sustained by farming varieties of native tomatoes, potatoes and quinoa. Quinine, an important drug for fighting malaria, was derived from another Andean native plant, Cinchona officianalis.

Plant Portraits 10. The Fruit of Life

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

In an earlier post, I explained why humanity might never have come into being without the fig. Its tropical relatives have been a vital source of food for primates since they first entered the rain forest canopy, and the species that evolved in the drier regions of the Middle East have sustained human populations for millennia. 

In the rainforests throughout the tropics, figs are a reliable food source for monkeys and other arboreal animals because of their habit of nearly continuous fruit production. Without the figs, primates may have diversified much more slowly, or not at all, and failed to give rise to our ground-dwelling ancestors. In this picture, the massive fruit set of Ficus sur is a feast for these guenon monkeys in Africa.

When Neanderthals entered Europe through the Middle East, the common species that we grow today, Ficus carica, was likely vital for their survival as well. This scene depicts an imagined later event of about 60,000 years ago, after modern humans had arrived from Africa. A Neanderthal man has two wives, one of them is a modern human, illustrating the fact, documented by genetic analysis, that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred. 

 

Some scholars believe that the forbidden fruit referred to in ancient stories of the Garden of Eden was more likely the fig, rather than the apple as often depicted in modern times. The particular type of fruit is not specified in the stories, but apples did not occur in the Middle East at the time.

The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, though unrelated to the fig, also originated in the Middle East and has been a vital source of food in the region for millennia. Here an early Mesopotamian family harvests dates from a cultivated grove. Note the lone male tree in blossom on the left. Date palms are dioecious, which means individual trees bear either male flowers or female flowers, not both. Early cultivators realized that they needed only one male tree to fertilized dozens of female trees. 

Plant Portraits 9. Big Stink in the Jungle

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 

 Not all that pleases the eye pleases the nose. Foul-smelling flowers attract flies and other insects that feed on rotting flesh. The stapeliads of Africa are of this nature, but the most spectacular examples are found in Indonesia. 

A family of the Kubu (Orang Rimba) indigenous group of Sumatra passes by the giant flowers of Rafflesia arnoldii, which is emitting a foul odor that mimics rotting flesh in order to attract carrion flies. The genus Rafflesia contains 41 species, and R. arnoldii has the largest of all flowers, measuring up to 40 inches in diameter.

 

A family of the Serampas ethnic group of Sumatra, dressed for a festive occasion, has encountered a rare bloom of the giant Titan Arum in the forest, on their way to another village. Being a member of the Aroid family (Araceae) the giant bloom of Amorphophallus titanum is not a single flower, but an inflorescence of many tiny flowers on a central spadix surrounded by a large spathe. The top part of the spadix is sterile, and functions to emit a an odor of rotting flesh, similar to that of the unrelated Rafflesia. Amorphophallus contains some 170 species with varied floral odors that reflect the tastes of particular pollinators. The Serampas people are models of forest management, growing a variety of sustainable forest products and have been designated by the Indonesian government as protectors of the rain forest within their traditional territory. 

A stink of a different sort is found in the fruits of the genus Durio (Malvaceae). Durian fruits have various, mostly disagreeable, odors, but tasty fruits. Orangutans and bats are attracted to the smell, knowing from experience that a tasty treat awaits them,  and serve as dispersal agents for the fruit. The foul odors perhaps discourage less intelligent, smaller animals, who would be unable to disperse the relatively large (one inch) seeds, from feeding on the fruits. 

Plant Portraits 8. South African Treasures

The bird-of-paradise, Strelitzia reginae, grows in moist

soil along watercourses. Those pictured higher on the 

 walls of this ravine are likely near seeps.  

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 

 The country of South Africs spans nearly 1000 miles from north to south. In the north, one finds the beginning of the vast African savanna, with its iconic herd of wild animals. More interesting botanically, however, is the southern end of the country, where a winter-rainfall, Mediterranean type of climate, with arguably the most spectacular display of spring wildflowers to be found anywhere in the world. Many of our favorite garden flowers originated here, including calla lilies, pelargoniums, birds-of-paradise, and gladiolus. The Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in Capetown focuses exclusively on collections of native plants and is a great base for forays into the field in the spring season of September through November. 

In this post are imaginary scenes incorporating some of these native plants. You can also refer back to my series on South African wildflowers beginning with the post on Kirstenbosch linked above (or see the Table of Contents.)

 

The common white calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica, occurs in shallow marshy areas of South Africa.

The yellow calla lily, Zantedeschia elliotii, grows in shallow marshes in eastern South Africa, seen here with the giant bird-of-paradise, Strelitzia nicolai, in the background.

Spring wildflowers in the Cape region of South Africa form vast mixed displays of every imaginable hue. The iris family is particularly diverse here with about 36 genera and 1200 species. Gladiolus, Moraea, Babiana, Ixia, Freesia, Watsonia, Romulea. Sparaxis, and Geissorhiza, are just a few of the distinctive members of the Iridaceae unique to this area. One can also find here many species of Pelargonium (known horticulturally as Geraniums), seen on the rocks in the foreground here. In the background are some specimens of the unique and spectacular giant aloe (Aloidendendron barberi), which has evolved a unique form of secondary growth, rare among wood-less monocots.  

South Africa is also home to many species of woody shrubs in the family Proteaceae, the most spectacular of which is the King Protea, P. cynaroides. 

Plant Portraits 7. Papyrus

According to the Old Testament book of Exodus, the baby 

Moses was placed in s papyrus basket and set adrift in the

Nile River by his mother, to protect him from the Pharaoh's 

decree to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. The river is lined 

with thickets of the papyrus plant.

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 

 I recently highlighted the incredibly useful bamboos, sources of fiber and wood substitutes for both ancient and modern societies. For ancient Egyptians, the magical source of useful fiber was the papyrus plant (Cyperus papyrus, Cyperaceae). It was used for everything plant fibers are good for:,mats, baskets, and even boats. Most important though was the manufacture of paper. The word paper in fact comes from the word papyrus, the Latin version of an even older word. 

The genus Cyperus contains at least 700 species, but only a handful are used for fiber or for food.  Many are short and grass-like, often appearing as lawn weeds.

 

Craftsmen in ancient Egypt are manufacturing paper from the long upright stalks of the papyrus plant. Papyrus was the standard writing material throughout the Mediterranean and surrounding areas for millennia.The stalks which may be six feet long or more are ideal for this purpose, as they consist of a single, uninterrupted internode with long straight fibers.

A fishing boat in ancient Egypt was made entirely of papyrus stalks. The explorer Thor Heyerdahl successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean  in a papyrus boat in 1970, to support his hypothesis that ancient Egyptians had done so in prehistoric times, influencing the building of pyramids in the New World.

Yokot'an Mayan people of southern Mexico used the stems of Cyperus giganteus to make mats.

Hunter/gatherer cultures, and later agriculturists,  in Africa have been harvesting the edible tubers of Cyperus esculentus for millennia.

Hu

Plant Portraits 6. Clematis

  (Note images in this series were generated with the assistance of modern AI tools. No actual human individuals are portrayed here. See the first installment of the series for further explanation)

 One of my other favorite genera of plants is Clematis (Ranunculaceae), a relative of Aquilegia, which was feaured in the first installment of this series.  Clematis species are mostly vines that climb by means of their thigmotrophic leaves, i.e. when they touch a potential supporting object, the leaves can wrap around it like tendrils. Like Aquilegia, they can be found in all colors of the rainbow, though red is rare among natual species. Various species have been used traditionally to treat inflammation. There are some 380 species of Clematis, about 2/3 of which occur in Asia.

The mention of Clematis immediately evokes images of the highly prized garden cultivars with large flowers in shades of blue, red, purple, pink and white. These garden varieties have complex histories of breeding and hybridization, with genes for blue colors coming from several wild species. The red colors in these cultivars, however, comes from just one species, Clematis texensis. 

 

 

In moist soil around swamps in Florida, and as far north as Virginia and west to Texas, one can find the blue-flowered, Clematis crispa. It's nodding, bell-shaped flowers are pollinated primarily by bumblebees. 

 

The nodding bell-shaped or urn-shaped species of Clematis are mostly pollinated by pollen-gathering  bumblebees.

 

Clematis baldwinii is related to C. crispa, but is not vining and found exclusively in peninsular Florida. It inhabits pine flatwoods, prairies, and sandhills, where periodic fire keeps down competing vegetation.

 

Clematis texensis is the only deep red species. It occurs only in moist soil in limestone regions of western Texas. It is the source of red-flowered genes in garden cultivars.

  

 Uyghur children  admire a patch of yellow-flowered Clematis tangutica, found in the highlands of central Asia to western China.

 

A number of Clematis species, like this C. terniflora growing in Taiwan, produce masses of fragrant white flowers that attract a variety of insects.