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.