As you explore this tropical rainforest you will discover and come across many different kinds of plants and trees that are all different colors, shapes, and sizes.  The organisms in the rainforest depend on these producers to survive.   The Amazon rainforest contains the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world.

The number of different plant species in the Amazon is the highest on Earth.

            One of the very majestic trees in the Amazon rainforest is the Kapok tree.  The Kapok tree is extremely huge and can reach up to 200 feet in height.  Its trunk is also about nine to ten feet in diameter.  As a producer of the rainforest it does a great job at spreading its seeds to make anywhere between 500 and 4,000 fruits all at once.

            Another producer of the rainforest is the Strangler Figs.  This tree at first begins life as a sticky seed left on a high branch by some animal.  As it grows, it develops long roots and descends along the trunk of the host tree eventually reaching the ground.  These trees are a “keystone” species because they are really important to the animals of the rainforest.  They’re important because figs bear fruit several times a year and that is always a supply of food for animals that depend on fruit as a major part of their diet.  There are also a large variety of herbivores and omnivores that eat figs.

            This third producer of the rainforest is a plant called the Acai plant.  The Acai is a very common, tall, slender palm tree.  It grows from 15 to 25 meters in height.  The Acai plant has pinnate leaves which start from a reddish colored prominent crown shaft.  The fruit it produces is a small, round, black-purple drupe.  It’s about one inch wide.  It’s produced in branched panicles of 700 to 900 fruits.

            This producer, the cocoa tree is very helpful to the organisms living in the Amazon as well as the people.  It produces more than 150 chemicals in its leaves, seeds, fruit, and bark.  Parts of the tree can be used to treat anxiety, fever, fatigue, and coughs.

            The Passion fruit also found in the Amazon rainforest is also a producer for the organisms.  It’s a vigorous, climbing vine that clings to almost anything that can support it.  Also, it can grow 15 to 20 ft. per year.  The color of this fruit is purple but it is said that it could’ve also originally been yellow.  It’s very round, about 1 to 3 inches wide, has a tough rind that is smooth and waxy.  This fruit bearing plant has a unique flavor that is very appealing to the organisms in the rainforest.  The taste is musky, guava-like and sweet.  Yet, this is just some of the many producers in this Amazon Rainforest.  As you can see there are just too many flowers, plants, and trees to list because the Amazon is enormous, but now you know some of these rainforest producers.

Image via Wikipedia