The Rain Forest Plants

Introduction

As animals, there are also many different types of plants that live in the rainforests. There are around 250,000 different kinds of plants in the Rainforests. 25,000 of these plants are facing extinction. Some of these plants benefit us majorly by providing medicines and sometimes even cures for different varieties of illnesses. Below do a few of the many different plants inhabit the forests.

Discussion

Tropical rainforests consist of three distinct layers referred to as the forest floor, the understory, and the canopy. The forest floor contains very poor soil which is mainly due to the trees not allowing for ample sunlight to reach the ground. Because only one to two percent of the light at the top of the forest's canopy manages to reach the floor below, photosynthesis ceases to exist. On top of the soil lies a thin layer of the remains of millions of dead trees, plants, and animals which are quickly broken down by the numerous number of organisms on the floor (Nichol 45). It contains a variety of insects as well as larger mammals such as gorillas and jaguars. The understory is home to smaller mammals such as anteaters, lemurs, and tree kangaroos. It also contains small trees and numerous shrubs.

The top layer, the canopy, is made up of the tops of trees which can grow to be over 200 feet in height. Here, trees receive the necessary sunlight to undergo photosynthesis which is crucial for the survival of the forest as a whole. Many tropical birds, monkeys, apes, snakes, and other animals reside in the canopy

The rainforest has a larger diversity of plants than any other area on Earth. For example, 'a single hectare in Kenya's Kakamega Forest may host between 100 and 150 different tree species, compared to only about 10 different ...