The Botanist

Amazon plants have a lot of interesting usages like the amazing cocoa tree, It producing more than 100 different liquids that could be made into medication to cure you of diseases and infections of a wound. Most of the are like flowers staying in their place unless they were picked or blown away but there are some other plants that move about and have mouths to eat insect and others that let out a toxin that could kill insects and even us. These are some names; Pitfall traps, Flypaper traps, Bladder traps, Lobster-pot traps and a Sarracenia. These are the types of plants you don’t want to run into or mess with, in a rainforest.

The Venus Fly Trap Fact File:

Description:The Venus Flytrap also known as a Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal, it’s a small plant whose structure can be described as a rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a short subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each stem reaches a maximum size of about three to ten centimeters, depending on the time of year longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than 7 leaves are colonies formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground

It eats:Mostly insects and arachnids

How it catches it’s prey: It’s trapping process is formed by the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces

The climate it live in: It’s found in environment that hasn’t got that much nitrogen so it would be nitrogen-poor, such as bogs and wet savannahs.

Botany Facts

The Brazil Nut Fact File

Descirption:The Brazil nut is a three-sided nut with white meat or flesh that consists of 70% fat and 17% protein

Family:
The Brazil Nut belongs to the Lecythidaceae Family

Common Names:
Brazil nut, castania, castanheiro do para, para-nut, creamnut, castana- de-para, castana-de-Brazil.

Parts that have been used:
The nut & the seed oil

Medical Uses:
The main actions are: It fights free radicals, it’s nutritious & it’s soothing.
The standard dosages are: nut & nut oil.

Worldwide Ethnomedical Uses:
For Amazonia the uses are: For liver problems, stomachaches, and used as a food, emollient, soap, and insect repellant.
For Venezuela: It’s used as a food and insect repellant .

Traditional Preparation: A Brazil nut a day is a great way to get the daily recommended amount of natural selenium.

Contraindications: Brazil nuts, like many other nuts, can cause allergic reactions in some sensitive individuals. If you are allergic to other nuts, like peanuts, you might be allergic to Brazil nuts as well.
By Annalese H.K, a.k.a The Botanist

The Population Expert - Rainforest Values

In many tribes in the Rainforest, things are very different to what they are here. Some rainforest people do not have schools, but are taught by their elders the values which have been passed down generations. However, the things they learn could be considered just as important as what we learn. The boys are taught to hunt and fish while the girls are taught to prepare the food.

Botanist

The Botany Expert:
Hello my name is Annalese, and today I’m teaching you facts about the plants you can find in The Amazon. They are all so amazing as well as unique. So here we are The Amazon, not I’m just kidding I’m only studying it so yeah here we go on a adventure.

Facts and Information about...... Botany!

For the people who don't know what botany is, it's a study of Plants.

The Amazon is wonderful place full of nature and extraordinary sights, full of plants and wildlife living, growing and having their lives. These are some facts:-First more than two thirds of the world's plant species are found in the tropical rainforests these plants are plants that provide shelter and food for rainforest animals as well as having a part to change our carbon dioxide into oxgen so that we can breath and live. These plants live in a warm environment(that usually has water around) that makes them adapt to different some like the orchids; have beautiful flowers adapted to attract the profusion of forest insects.

Competition at ground level for light and food has lead to evolution of plants which live on the branches of other plants, or even strangle large trees to fight for survival. The aerial plants often gather nourishment from the air itself using so-called 'air roots';. The humidity of the rainforest encourages such adaptations which would be impossible in most temperate forests with their much drier conditions. there are more than half a million plants in the whole of the rainforest, there are still even some that aren’t even discovered yet but lets go on a trip to learn about the most common ones.

The Biologist - Pink River Dolphins

Pink river dolphins are the smartest of all dolphins. Their brains are a lot larger than ours They are very friendly. They are highly endangered. Some of the dolphins are gray in color and these are sacred to the natives. They can turn their heads completely from side to side. Because it has no real enemies in the water, these dolphins do not swim in schools. They are not fast swimmers, and sometimes swim upside down. They love to play! They like to throw sticks and even small animals like turtles.

The Geography Expert - Handy South American Rainforest Map

O.K, this is completely random, I know, but I saw this and thought it might be interesting. This map shows the rainforest in South America, the green areas tropical and the blue areas temperate (if you are unsure of the difference, see my other postings).

EDIT: Oh, great, I've found another. This one is pretty much the same thing, only it shows the area of South America that the Amazon Rainforest covers. It zooms in a bit.