The rainforest is a curious place. To the naked eye, the unending expanse of brilliant green can be overwhelming. Traipsing around, looking high for monkeys and low for footholds, it’s easy not to see the forest for the trees. But that’s not always a bad thing – you may find that focusing in on a single tree gives you a window into its unique personality.
Even the most passionate tree-huggers shrink away from the thorny trunks of the spiky tree, which can be seen on the right in the photo. Another intriguing rainforest species, the strangler fig, wraps its way parasitically around a larger trunk to eventually overtake the “host” tree. Large buttresses fan out from the base of the sterculia apetala, otherwise known as the “Panama tree,” as a genetic adaptation to protect against strangler figs. In areas that have been deforested, you can still see gargantuan cuipo trees standing tall, left behind because of their spongy, undesireable wood. The dracaena produces a sap with identical color and consistency to blood, lending it the nickname ”Dragon’s Blood.”
The palo cebolla, or “onion tree,” smells exactly like an onion. The jagua tree produces fruits that create a blue dye used by the Embera people to paint their entire bodies for functional purposes (insect repellent, sun block) as much as decorative (designs for tribal celebrations). Of course there are cedar and mahogany trees that grow slowly and produce fine, durable woods. Other trees, like the balsa, prefer a life like Jim Morrison’s, shooting straight up to the canopy and dying young.
Some of these dynamic forest characters are finding roles on a larger stage – in the medical theater! For instance, vincristine, which is extracted from periwinkle, has dramatically increased the survival rate for acute childhood leukemia. Another chemical derived from a rainforest plant blocks the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, imperative in the processing of alcohol in the human system. After its consumption, a single drink of alcohol will produce fits of vomiting and nausea. A drug has since been synthesized and is being used as a treatment for recovering alcoholics.
No one knows how many other potential cures reside under the bark of these green monsters. If you already appreciate the rainforest, and are committed to sustainability and conservation in the effort to preserve these oxygen-producing powerhouses, these habitats for endangered species… then find more fuel for your eco-conscious fire by considering that your life may depend on a rainforest derived-drug one day.
TAGS: Nature Plant Life
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