GREENHOUSE TOUR 1 |
Greenhouse 2
1. Acacia cornigera - bull-horn acacia (Mimosaceae)
A famous mutualism: the acacia provides food and shelter for ants, which in turn protect the plant from herbivores. The shelter is in the form of hollow stipular thorns. The food comes as "Beltian bodies", little globs of oil and protein at the tips of leaflets (look closely). These are named for the "Naturalist of Nicaragua", Thomas Belt. Acacia is a dominant legume genus of tropical deciduous forests and savannas.
2. Pachira quinata - (Bombacaceae)
This tree is found in the subtropical deciduous forest of Central America. Note the presence of trunk thorns so characteristic of these dry forests. What is their purpose you think? The Bombacaceae is a family typically showing compound leaves.
3. Monstera deliciosa - swiss cheese plant, monstera (Araceae)
This genus (from the Neotropics) and relatives are some of the dominant epiphytes or hemi-epiphytes in tropical forests. This species starts rooted in the ground and grows towards the dark (i.e., tree trunks); once attached it grows up to the light - hence it is a "roving" hemi epiphyte. The adaptive value of the fenestrations ("windows") is still debatable. Click to see a Monstera plant eating a car!
4. Heliconia sp.- heliconia (Musaceae)
These large herbs, relatives of the banana and other members of the Zingiberales, are characteristic of riparian areas in tropical rain forests. The bright color of its inflorescences are provided by bracts (modified leaves) which contrast with the colors of its flowers and its fruits-- all the better to attract pollinators and seed dispersers. Mites live in these flowers, transported there by visiting hummingbirds.
5. Maranta - prayer plant (Marantaceae)
The prayer plants belong to one of the families included in the banana or ginger order (Zingiberales) that is so common along streams and other wet places in tropical forests. The common name refers to the unusual closing or drooping of leaves during the night. This plant also exhibits variegated leaves - a common feature in the herbaceous zone of tropical forests.
6. Pandanus - screw pine (Pandanaceae)
A large genus restricted to the Old World tropics. Mostly sea coast or marsh plants - note the prop roots. These plants, not surprisingly, are characteristic of Pacific Ocean islands. The leaves are used like those of palms for thatch and matting, and the fleshy fruits of some species are used as food.
7. Barnadesia sp. - (Asteraceae)
This thorny shrub is found in the Andes, predominantly in areas of "scrub" around 3400m elevation on the leeward (rain-shadow) mountain slopes, just below the Puna zone. The bright, showy "flowers" (inflorescences) you see are very different from other members of the Asteraceae (Composites) such as sunflowers. Their color and shape is characteristic of hummingbird- pollinated flowers; an example of "divergence"of floral form within a plant family. Barnadesia, along with other South American genera, comprises the most ancient lineage of the Composite family, and indicates that this important family probably originated in South America.
Greenhouse 3A
8. Kohleria sp. - (Gesneriaceae)
This herb is a member of the "African violet family," which is mostly found in the tropics, but includes a few temperate taxa which are relicts from the Tertiary. The family is characteristic of tropical rain forest understories, and its members often have fuzzy leaves which are oppositely arranged on the stem. Flowers of the Neotropical species are usually funnel-shaped for pollination by hummingbirds - a strictly Neotropical group of birds.
9.Tillandsia usneoides - Spanishmoss (Bromeliaceae)
The morphologically most unspecialized ("primitive", in a sense) members of this strictly Neotropical family are terrestrial xerophytes (Puya, Pitcairnia and Ananas, the pineapple). Intermediate in morphology are the tank epiphytes that use overlapping leaf bases to catch and store water (Vriesia, Neoregelia). The most specialized are the extremely modified Tillandsia species, which are covered with absorptive scales and lack root systems, at least as adults.
10.Epidendrum sp. - orchid (Orchidaceae)
This group of orchids is characteristicly epiphytic in the Neotropical wet and cloud forests. They possess special cells on roots and stems for water uptake and retention. Like all orchids, the flowers are intricately arranged and have specialized forms of animal (often bee) pollination. The seeds are numerous and light, ideal for dispersal to branches and stems of host trees.
Greenhouse 4
11.Rhizophora mangle - red mangrove (Rhizophoraceae)
The dominant mangrove in the Neotropics, especially prevalent close to the sea. Several adaptations to the halophytic life style (what does that mean?) are evident: tough, evergreen leaves; prop roots. Pneumatophores are not evident on this young plant - why not perhaps?
12.Musa X paradisiaca- banana (Musaceae)
This is the banana "tree" of commerce. Note that this not only isn't a tree, it's not even a woody plant. The "stem" is composed of overlapping petioles. The banana originated from the Asian tropical forest, but is now widespread.
13.Blechnum gibbum - tree fern (Cyatheaceae)
This tree fern is a close relative of the widespread genus Cyathea. Tree ferns are very characteristic of moist tropical mountains or cloud forests.
Greenhouse 5
14.Ananas comosus - pineapple(Bromeliaceae)
The pineapple family is one of the 8 primarily South American families with a minor distribution in Africa. The pineapple is Neotropical but with an obvious human-induced distribution around the world. Only one species of Bromeliaceae gets into Africa, in the genus Pitcairnia, and it has fleshy, bird-dispersed fruits. Most members of the Bromeliaceae are confined to either the Guayana Shield or the Andes.
15.Nepenthes ventricosa - Asian pitcher plant (Nepenthaceae)
This genus is widespread from Philippines (this species) to Sumatra, IndoMalaysia, and even Madagascar. This carnivore is found in wet tropical forests. Recent molecular phylogenetic results show it unrelated to our New World pitcher plants (Sarraceniaceae) - convergence! - but related to the carnivorous sundews (Droseraceae).
Greenhouse 8 - Tropical High House
16. Ficus nekbudu - Kaffir fig (Moraceae)
A strangling fig native to tropical Africa. Like many species in this large genus (ca. 800 species) the plant can start as an epiphyte and slowly envelope its support. The figs are pollinated by wasps and, as in the orchids, a particular species of wasp often has coevolved to pollinate a particular species of fig. Click here to see images of a strangler fig which has killed its host tree and now has a hollow center.
17. Sanchezia speciosa - acanth (Acanthaceae)
This herb/shrub is typical of the many acanths found in the understory or edges of tropical wet forests in all three floristic regions of the world. The family is easily spotted by opposite leaves, usually squarish stems, and showy bracts of the inflorescence. This species is from tropical America and clearly is hummingbird pollinated based on the yellow, curved flowers. Like other hummingbird pollinated species, there are mites that live in the nectar rich flowers that will quickly jump onto bird beaks when penetrating the flowers and then get carried to flowers of other species.
18.Amorphophallus titanum- aroid (Araceae)
This species is from the island of Sumatra (Indonesia), and the genus is found only in the Old World tropics. For years it had persisted in our greenhouse with its huge, single leaf reaching nearly to the ceiling. During the last two summers, our plants bloomed, the first tying the world record for the largest "corpse flower." For more information about this unique event, see the following web page and the display in the lobby of Birge Hall.
19.Cola acuminata- kola (Sterculiaceae)
Native to tropical west Africa, kola is widely cultivated in the tropics for its caffeine-rich seeds. Extracts from the chestnut-sized seeds (produced in pod-like follicles) have provided the flavor and buzz of cola beverages worldwide, though the large American soda companies now use synthetic substitutes. Our kola specimen isn't large enough yet to show the characteristic "bottle tree" shape of its trunk, an adaptation to drought.
20. Carica papaya - papaya (Caricaceae)
The berry is like a cantaloupe melon and is a common fruit throughout the tropics and subtropics, although the species is native to the Americas. Its family is small (4 genera and ca. 30 species) and is traditionally related to the passion flower family (Passifloraceae), which also has parietal placentation. However, it produces mustard oils and molecular data relate it to the other mustard oil containing families, especially to the Moringaceae, which contains the horse-radish tree - and also has parietal placentation.
21.Chorigyne sp. - (Cyclanthaceae)
A member of the neotropical and Pacific island "Panama hat" family, this genus is found only in Panama and Costa Rica. The family's palm-like or "rabbit ears" leaves are a common sight in the understories of tropical rain forests and cloud forests, or sometimes in the mid canopy layer as epiphytes or lianas. Once thought to be closely related to the palm family, this family is now considered instead to be convergent with the palms.
22.Coffea arabica - coffee (Rubiaceae)
The pits in the drupes (a fruit like a cherry or peach) are the coffee beans of commerce. How might the caffeine in the seeds (which pleasantly stimulates the human nervous system) better adapt them for survival? Native to tropical Africa, the species is cultivated in tropical areas worldwide - providing a nice example of the common pattern in the biogeography of cultivated plants, where a species is often a more economically important crop outside its native range. Coffee is often grown as an understory shrub beneath trees, an agricultural system that mimics the commonest ecological role of members of the family as a whole - understory shrubs in tropical rainforests.
