Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [46]
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As the eastern Andean slopes descend into the western Amazon uplands, the scenery once again changes. Here, tropical cloud forests – so named because they trap (and help create) clouds that drench the forest in a fine mist – allow delicate forms of plant life to survive. Cloud forest trees are adapted to steep slopes, rocky soils and a rugged climate. They are characterized by low, gnarled growth, dense small-leafed canopies and moss-covered branches supporting a host of plants such as orchids, ferns and bromeliads. These aerial plants, which gather their moisture and some nutrients from the air, without the benefit of ground roots, are collectively termed epiphytes. The dense vegetation at all levels of the cloud forest gives it a mysterious and delicate, fairy-tale appearance. It is also important as a source of fresh water and for controlling erosion.
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Monga Bay (www.mongabay.com) is an excellent online resource for news and information related to rainforests around the world.
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At lowland altitudes lies the Amazon rainforest, with its untold wealth of flora and fauna. A short walk into this jungle will reveal that it is vastly different from the temperate forests of North America and Europe. The sheer density is astonishing: tens of thousands of species of plant that can be found living on top of and around each other. There are strangler figs (known as matapalos), palms, ferns, epiphytes, bromeliads, flowering orchids, fungi, mosses and lianas, to name a few. Some rainforest trees are supported by strange roots that look like props or stilts. These are most frequently found where periodic floods occur; the stilt roots are thought to play a role in keeping the tree upright during the inundation. Rainforest palms, such as the so-called ‘walking palm,’ are among the trees that have these kinds of roots.
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Andean Botanical Information System (www.sacha.org) is a veritable online encyclopedia of flowering plants in Peru’s coastal areas and the Andes.
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One thing that often astounds visitors is the sheer immensity of many trees. A good example is the ceiba (also called the ‘kapok’ or cotton silk tree), which has huge flattened trunk supports, known as buttresses, around its base. The trunk of a ceiba can easily measure 3m across and will grow straight up for 50m before the first branches are reached. These spread out into a huge crown with a slightly flattened appearance. The staggering height of many Amazon trees, some reaching a height of 80-plus meters, creates a whole ecosystem or life at the canopy level, inhabited by creatures that never descend to the forest floor.
In areas that have been cleared (often naturally by a flash flood or when a gap is created by an ancient forest giant falling during a storm) various fast-growing pioneer species appear. These may grow several meters a year in areas where abundant sunlight is suddenly available. Some of the most common and easily recognized of these are in the nettle family of the genus Cecropia, often found on riverbanks. Their smooth, hollow trunks are often circled by ridges at intervals of a few centimeters, and their branches form a small canopy at the top. These trees, which attract sloths, birds and bats as occasional residents, are best known for their symbiotic relationship with ant colonies that inhabit the spongy, internal tissue of the trunk and protect the tree from insect attacks on its foliage.
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Breakfast of Biodiversity: The Truth about Rain Forest Destruction, by John Vandermeer, is a gripping account of the causes of rainforest destruction worldwide, including the Peruvian Amazon.
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In stark contrast to the Amazon, the coastal desert is generally barren of vegetation, apart from around water sources, which may spring into palm-fringed lagoons. Otherwise, the limited plant life you’ll glimpse will consist of cacti and other succulents, as well as lomas (a blend of grasses and herbaceous species in mist-prone areas).