Amazon 3.0 -- Vines and Epiphytes

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Amazon 3.0 - Vines and Epiphytes

June 25-July 7

A tropical rainforest rarely allows any plant the space to just grow and be left alone. To a vine a tree trunk is a convenient pathway to sunlight. To an epiphyte a tree branch is a pleasant place to just hangout and wait for water and nutrients to drift or fall your way.

Aside from my Spanish-English and Portuguese-English dictionaries and the appropriate chapters torn from Lonely Planet’s Venezuela and Brazil guide books, John Kricher’s A Neotropical Companion is my most valuable resource for this trip. Most - probably all - of any botanical observations I make along the way would not be made - or would likely be wrong - without Kricher.

“Liana is a growth form, not a family of plants…” Many rainforest species can take both a tree form and a vine form - one reason we see so many types of vines while travelling these regions.

Epiphytes, plants that pull their nutrients from the air, may be up to a quarter of the plant species in low altitude tropical rainforests. Many bromeliads are epiphytes and if some look like pineapples it is because they are in the same family. There are, Kricher informs us, about two thousand species of bromeliad in the Americas, all members of the pineapple family.

These photos were all taken from the deck of Iguana while travelling up the Rio Orinoco between Samariapo (which is just above the rapids that block navigation to Puerto Ayacucho) and the entrance to the Casiquiare. If anyone with a broader botanical knowledge than mine would give some of these vines and epiphytes their proper names I would certainly appreciate it and will attach the names to these photographs at first opportunity.

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Comments

[Colleen Taylor]

Amazon Zen moments
Fantastic photos, Kit. How about wildlife? You mentioned macaws in an email. What sounds do you hear and what critters have you seen (monkeys, bats, Harpies?). Yes, such a rough life! Enjoy the moments! Colleen

[KST]

I hear more animals than I see
I often hear monkeys. Just before dawn when sleeping in a hammock on the deck of Iguana I hear the river dolphins surfacing to breath (seen them also, photos in a later blog entry). One morning -- most of the night actually -- I heard lots of the birds the Brazilians call a ferreiro (blacksmith) as it makes a rather obnoxious sound like metal being struck on an anvil. I recall hearing one once before in a bird market in Recife and was told ''it sings day and night.''

[old.frt]

Vegetation
Do any of these plants have ethnobotanical qualities?

[KST]

Ethnobotanical properties
I've no idea.

[Susan Schneider]

Hello from London
Hi Kit In the middle of packing to go back to Seattle and am enjoying your blog for the first time (Aug 15). What an amazing adventure you are having. Like what you are writing about the reality of exchanging dollars, hotels, eating meals. Best of luck with the rest of the trip. susan