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The Rafflesia Flower
is best known for its bloom. The bloom of this plant is so large that it’s by far the largest of any flower. Sadly it is also one of the world's most endangered plants. The flower is one-meter wide and weighing over 6 pounds. The flower is totally dependent on one particular vine called Tetrastigm. The Rafflesia is a disembodied flower. This means that it is a rootless, leafless and stem less parasite. The flower drains nourishment and gains physical support from its host vine. Its only form of a body consists of strands of fungus like tissue that grow inside the Tetrastigma vine. The Rafflesia Flower is pollinated by; creating an odor, which attracts insects such as flies. These flies then pollinate the plant. However, one of these plants lasts only a week before dyeing.
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The Butress Roots have had to specially develop for the rainforests unique conditions. The excessive amounts of rain in the rain forest have caused the soil to become very poor. The rain forces most of the nutrients from the soil to the surface. These trees have adapted to this by growing very short roots. However, this method does not work for larger rainforest trees because they have nothing to keep them standing. To stay standing the trees formed buttress roots. Buttress roots grow on the outside of the trees and can be 15 ft tall. These roots make the trees wider so they can take in more carbon dioxide and release more oxygen into the air. This helps the tree survive and also helps keep our air healthy.
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The Venus Fly Trap is a carnivorous plant. It feeds upon insects and arachnids. The plant is able to do this by adapting to form a trapping structure. The terminal portion of each of the plants leaves forms this trapping structure. The plant recognizes its prey by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. The venus fly trap is slightly limited as to what it can eat, it mainly diets upon beetles, spiders and other crawling arthropods. The Venus Fly Trap’s diet is 33% ants, 30% spiders, 10% beetles, and 10% grasshoppers and 5% flying insects. The Venus flytrap is usually found in nitrogen and phosphorus poor environments, such as bogs and rain forests. The nutritional poverty of the soil is the reason that the plant relies on such elaborate traps. This is a perfect example of plants adaptations to their environments. Insects provide the nitrogen for protein formation that the soil cannot. The Venus flytrap is not a tropical plant and can tolerate mild winters. Surprisingly if a venus flytrap does not go through a period of cold weather it will weaken and die after a period of time.
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The Bambusa Tulda can be found in the Southeast Asian rainforest. It often grows as undergrowth scattered or in patches. The bamboo excels in a climate with lots of rain. This particular bamboo can grow anywhere between 40 feet and 80 feet tall. At adult age the bamboo is 3 inches in diameter. The leaves of the bamboo are long and narrow and green in colour. Bamboo is the largest grass on the planet. Bamboo is fast growing and in two to three months it is full grown. Bamboo only flowers once in their lifetime. After flowering the plant dies soon after. This species of bamboo's life span is 25 to 40 years. Bambusa tulda is very important to its environment. It actively reduces soil erosion. The plant does this by ingesting large amounts of water. It also provides shelter for many animals. Bamboo physically adapted to its environment by growing tall fast so it can get a lot of rain and sunlight.
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The Kapok Tree is an emergent tree of the tropical rain forests. On average it grows to 150 feet. Large spines protrude from the trunk of the tree to prevent damage to the trunk. Thin, buttresses stabilize the giant and can extend to 30 feet. The crown has an open umbrella shape. Many plants and animals grow make their homes in the branches of the kapok tree. Birds nest in it, and mammals use the huge branches for travelling. Frogs breed in the pools of water that collect in the tree. Kapoks are made to withstand droughts. They do this by shedding most or all of their leaves during the tropical dry season. Flowers usually open before the leaves appear. These flowers are clustered on small, new branches. The plant reproduces by sending its seeds throught the air. This is done because the plant is so tall the seeds will travel for great distances. The kapok tree is spread around the world.