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Tropical Trees: Palm, Fruit And Rainforest
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Published: June 12, 2007
The visage of tropical trees, whether swaying palms off the coast of Yucatán or a bird's eye view of a lush rain forest canopy, can evoke relaxation or intrigue. Still, apart from vacation experiences or souvenirs, the majority of the population is unfamiliar with the myriad resources tropical trees provide, and the current threat to these symbols of the exotic.
The tropics are generally referred to as the region circumventing the earth between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° N Latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5° S Latitude). However, the location of tropical trees is less defined. Palm trees, for example, can be found anywhere from the south of France at the Mediterranean Sea, to the Chatham Islands in the South Pacific. Flowering fruit trees, such as jasmine, lemon, tamarind, and fig fruit trees thrive in such disparate regions as India, the southern United States, and the Middle East. Tropical rainforest trees can be found as far north as Canada and as far south as Argentina, and anywhere in between and around the equator.
Structures of tropical trees vary. Unlike coniferous trees that bear needles, the leaves on most tropical trees are flat and long or wide. Rubber tree leaves are thick, broad, and rounded, while ficus and tamarind trees have multiple small leaves attached to a single thin stem. Rainforest trees grow in layers ranging from the canopy trees, nearly two hundred feet high, to the undergrowth trees reaching no more than eighty feet. Root and branch formations of tropical trees differ, too. Some grow on single trunks in sand, while others in more humid and dense climates may have hundreds of branches or roots that intertwine with other trees functioning to hold soil together.
Interestingly, while many are somewhat accustomed to hearing the mantra Save the Rain Forest, people are not always aware of the important roles played and resources yielded by rainforest trees and other tropical trees throughout the biosphere. Approximately forty-five percent of the world's plant species can be located in tropical rain forests. Among these are highly-coveted hardwood trees, such as teak, rosewood, and mahogany, used for parquet floors, furniture, and even, construction. Rubber trees, initially found only in Brazil two hundred years ago, now primarily in Southeast Asia and tropical Africa, produce sap that can be processed or vulcanized into wax, latex, and certainly, rubber.
On the whole, tropical trees provide humans with food and beverages, spices, medicine, timber, paper, waxes, oils, resins, soaps, gums, dyes, fertilizers, cork, and many other commodities and resources. Tropical trees also sustain hundreds of thousands of species essential to the food chain and human survival. A plethora of wildlife, including, but not limited to sloths, tree frogs, macaws, spiders, and jaguars, depend on tropical trees for food, shelter, camouflage, and protection. Additionally, tropical trees aid human life by lesser-known but increasingly crucial means, such as purifying air (rain forests are known among environmentalists as the lungs of the earth), screening noise and pollution, acting as wind breaks and shelters, providing shade, and preventing soil erosion.
While there is much debate about the extent to which tropical trees are threatened throughout the world, stripping and intentionally wounding tropical trees for products like palm hearts and rubber, poses a great risk to the livelihood not only of individual trees, but entire ecosystems. Deforestation, clear-cutting, and slash-and-burn methods of reaping tropical trees and their resources have also directly affected many indigenous populations. Currently, in Brazil and other areas of the Amazon basin, there are fewer than 250,000 tribespeople where there once were over several million. Indigenous populations are forcibly relocated to urban areas where they are neither prepared to nor desire to participate in modern society.
The significance of tropical trees exists not only for environmental and biological purposes, but cultural, historical, and spiritual reasons, as well. These trees occupy necessary elements in both Judeo-Christian and other faiths throughout the world. Palms (palm trees) are mentioned at least thirty times in the Bible and no less than twenty-two times in the Koran, represented Apollo in Ancient Greece, and symbolized long life to ancient Egyptians. Today, palm trees, especially coconut, typify a tropical paradise and are seen on flags of island nations like Guam and Haiti. Rubber balls from rubber trees in pre-Columbian Meso-American have been recorded as used in the earliest ball-sport games. And beautiful and fragrant flowers, like lotuses and jasmine from still other tropical trees are used in many traditional Indian ceremonies.
Ultimately, the state of tropical trees and their treasures throughout the world will depend on humanity's recognition of the necessity for the resources and provisions these trees provide, as well as the potential consequences of devaluing their existence.
Sources:
Allan, Tony. Rain Forests. North Mankato, MN : Chrysalis Education, 2003.
Harvey, HaiSong. Ed. Rain Forests. San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2002.
Oldfield, Sara. Rain forests. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1996.
Place, Susan E. Ed. Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Rev. and updated ed. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 2001.
Seth, M.K. Trees and Their Economic Importance. The Botanical Review. 69 (2004): 321-376.
"Arecaceae." Wikipedia. 14 Mar. 2007. Mar. 17, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecaceae.
"Rubber." Wikipedia. 19 Mar. 2007. Mar. 20, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber.
"Tropics." Wikipedia. 14 Mar. 2007. Mar. 17, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropics.
The tropics are generally referred to as the region circumventing the earth between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° N Latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5° S Latitude). However, the location of tropical trees is less defined. Palm trees, for example, can be found anywhere from the south of France at the Mediterranean Sea, to the Chatham Islands in the South Pacific. Flowering fruit trees, such as jasmine, lemon, tamarind, and fig fruit trees thrive in such disparate regions as India, the southern United States, and the Middle East. Tropical rainforest trees can be found as far north as Canada and as far south as Argentina, and anywhere in between and around the equator.
Structures of tropical trees vary. Unlike coniferous trees that bear needles, the leaves on most tropical trees are flat and long or wide. Rubber tree leaves are thick, broad, and rounded, while ficus and tamarind trees have multiple small leaves attached to a single thin stem. Rainforest trees grow in layers ranging from the canopy trees, nearly two hundred feet high, to the undergrowth trees reaching no more than eighty feet. Root and branch formations of tropical trees differ, too. Some grow on single trunks in sand, while others in more humid and dense climates may have hundreds of branches or roots that intertwine with other trees functioning to hold soil together.
Interestingly, while many are somewhat accustomed to hearing the mantra Save the Rain Forest, people are not always aware of the important roles played and resources yielded by rainforest trees and other tropical trees throughout the biosphere. Approximately forty-five percent of the world's plant species can be located in tropical rain forests. Among these are highly-coveted hardwood trees, such as teak, rosewood, and mahogany, used for parquet floors, furniture, and even, construction. Rubber trees, initially found only in Brazil two hundred years ago, now primarily in Southeast Asia and tropical Africa, produce sap that can be processed or vulcanized into wax, latex, and certainly, rubber.
On the whole, tropical trees provide humans with food and beverages, spices, medicine, timber, paper, waxes, oils, resins, soaps, gums, dyes, fertilizers, cork, and many other commodities and resources. Tropical trees also sustain hundreds of thousands of species essential to the food chain and human survival. A plethora of wildlife, including, but not limited to sloths, tree frogs, macaws, spiders, and jaguars, depend on tropical trees for food, shelter, camouflage, and protection. Additionally, tropical trees aid human life by lesser-known but increasingly crucial means, such as purifying air (rain forests are known among environmentalists as the lungs of the earth), screening noise and pollution, acting as wind breaks and shelters, providing shade, and preventing soil erosion.
While there is much debate about the extent to which tropical trees are threatened throughout the world, stripping and intentionally wounding tropical trees for products like palm hearts and rubber, poses a great risk to the livelihood not only of individual trees, but entire ecosystems. Deforestation, clear-cutting, and slash-and-burn methods of reaping tropical trees and their resources have also directly affected many indigenous populations. Currently, in Brazil and other areas of the Amazon basin, there are fewer than 250,000 tribespeople where there once were over several million. Indigenous populations are forcibly relocated to urban areas where they are neither prepared to nor desire to participate in modern society.
The significance of tropical trees exists not only for environmental and biological purposes, but cultural, historical, and spiritual reasons, as well. These trees occupy necessary elements in both Judeo-Christian and other faiths throughout the world. Palms (palm trees) are mentioned at least thirty times in the Bible and no less than twenty-two times in the Koran, represented Apollo in Ancient Greece, and symbolized long life to ancient Egyptians. Today, palm trees, especially coconut, typify a tropical paradise and are seen on flags of island nations like Guam and Haiti. Rubber balls from rubber trees in pre-Columbian Meso-American have been recorded as used in the earliest ball-sport games. And beautiful and fragrant flowers, like lotuses and jasmine from still other tropical trees are used in many traditional Indian ceremonies.
Ultimately, the state of tropical trees and their treasures throughout the world will depend on humanity's recognition of the necessity for the resources and provisions these trees provide, as well as the potential consequences of devaluing their existence.
Sources:
Allan, Tony. Rain Forests. North Mankato, MN : Chrysalis Education, 2003.
Harvey, HaiSong. Ed. Rain Forests. San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2002.
Oldfield, Sara. Rain forests. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1996.
Place, Susan E. Ed. Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Rev. and updated ed. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 2001.
Seth, M.K. Trees and Their Economic Importance. The Botanical Review. 69 (2004): 321-376.
"Arecaceae." Wikipedia. 14 Mar. 2007. Mar. 17, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecaceae.
"Rubber." Wikipedia. 19 Mar. 2007. Mar. 20, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber.
"Tropics." Wikipedia. 14 Mar. 2007. Mar. 17, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropics.
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