TREES IN THE TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
Tropical rainforests have more kinds of trees than any other
forests in the world.
Banana trees
Teak trees
Fig trees
Kapok trees
Palm trees
Dipterocarp trees
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Trees in the tropical rainforests have special
features:
They have thin, smooth bark
BIG, thick waxy
leaves
BIG roots - called buttress roots
BIG creepers
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Not all tree species live happily together…
NASTY creepers - Strangler figs
They wrap around the trunks of tall trees
to reach higher and get more sunlight and
this strangles and kills the tree.
The trees fight back!
Some trees grow spines on their trunks and
branches making it hard for animals to reach
their leaves and eat them.
Some have hollows in their branches for ants
to nest in. The ants attack those insects and
vines that can harm the tree.
Many leaves produce chemicals which make them taste horrible and
stops them being eaten by insects and animals.
The Patt Foundation Registered UK Charity Number 1117158 www.pattfoundation.org
What do the tropical rainforest trees do for us?
The rainforests are the ‘lungs’ of the planet. Almost a third of
the oxygen in the air we breathe is produced there.
The trees help to prevent soil erosion and flooding.
Many tropical rainforest trees give us food
such as:
Bananas
Pineapples
Coconuts
Figs
Brazil nuts
and
medicines
Teaks, rosewoods, mahoganies give us
wood for furniture, musical instruments
and boats.
Rubber trees are tapped to give us tyres,
pencil erasers, wellington boots, rubber
gloves, hoses, rubber bands, toy balloons.
The Patt Foundation Registered UK Charity Number 1117158 www.pattfoundation.org