If you want a palm jungle landscape

[amazondk]

Since most palm gardeners strive for some sort of jungle like look I thought it would be interesting to post some pictures of what our natural jungle looks like around here. The other day I was walking around part of the Ducke forest reserve and Manaus botanical garden and took a few pictures. There is a good mixture of palms in the understory with some emmergent specimens. This is the normal forest compostion in our area and an example lf what some may like to create to a certain degree in their gardens. Also, if anyone would like to guess at identifying the palms please add your comments.

dk

[amazondk]

[amazondk]

[amazondk]

[amazondk]

[amazondk]

[tjwalters]

Don,

Cool shots - thanks. Ever since I was a kid (a long time ago ) I've been intrigued by the rain forests of South America. Is that undisturbed forest? I read somewhere once that it can be so dark on the rain forest floor that a miner's helmet is needed to see because virtually no light reaches the floor. It doesn't look too dark in your photos, though.

[amazondk]

Tom,

This part of the forest is primary lowland tropical forest. In the primary forest the forest floor is quite open as the trees are quite large and provide quite a bit of shade. But, it is not dark. The secondary forest tends to be darker as the canopy is in fact denser. As the primary forest trees grow and take over the pioneer trees the forest opens up as these die as the higher canopy shades the out. It seems that the palms then colonize the forest floor to a great degree. The biggest tree in pictues is an Angelim Ferro, Dinizia excelsa which is the largest tree found in the terra firme, or high ground forest. They can be over 150 feet tall and as much 10 feet in diameter at the base. What you do feel in the forest is the high level of humidity. Forest fires in primary forest here are not too common as the ground rarely dries out enough to allow a fire to spread.

dk

[amazondk]

Tom,

This part of the forest is primary lowland tropical forest, undisturbed. In the primary forest the forest floor is quite open as the trees are quite large and provide quite a bit of shade. But, it is not dark. The secondary forest tends to be darker as the canopy is in fact denser. As the primary forest trees grow and take over the pioneer trees the forest opens up as these die as the higher canopy shades the out. It seems that the palms then colonize the forest floor to a great degree. The biggest tree in pictues is an Angelim Ferro, Dinizia excelsa which is the largest tree found in the terra firme, or high ground forest. They can be over 150 feet tall and as much 10 feet in diameter at the base. What you do feel in the forest is the high level of humidity. Forest fires in primary forest here are not too common as the ground rarely dries out enough to allow a fire to spread.

dk

[amazondk]

Tom,

This part of the forest is primary lowland tropical forest, undisturbed. In the primary forest the forest floor is quite open as the trees are quite large and provide quite a bit of shade. But, it is not dark. The secondary forest tends to be darker as the canopy is in fact denser. As the primary forest trees grow and take over the pioneer trees the forest opens up as these die as the higher canopy shades the out. It seems that the palms then colonize the forest floor to a great degree. The biggest tree in pictues is an Angelim Ferro, Dinizia excelsa which is the largest tree found in the terra firme, or high ground forest. They can be over 150 feet tall and as much 10 feet in diameter at the base. What you do feel in the forest is the high level of humidity. Forest fires in primary forest here are not too common as the ground rarely dries out enough to allow a fire to spread.

dk

[Tyrone]

Thanks Don for the pics. I always like looking at natural rainforest settings. I try to mimic them as much as possible in my own garden, but nature is very hard to mimic. Nature is a hard act to follow.

Best regards

Tyrone

[amazondk]

Tyrone,

I try to do the same thing. When I go into the forest it is like entering a huge garden. My favorite natural environment has always been the foreest.

dk

[Gileno Machado]

Nice pictures Don...

What I remember the most in Manaus surrounding forests is the sound from a great diversity of animals in the afternoon, at least in the Igapós I've visited, not in Terra firme.

Nice palms in Post # 6, any idea what species they are? I believe the understory spiny ones previously shown are probably Bactris major var. infesta (tucum mirim), common to your area, but they look so tall in your picture(?)...

[amazondk]

Gileno,

I am not sure what they are. I have a guide book for plpnts of the Ducke reserve maybe I can figure it out from there. At times there is a bit of noise in the forest. But, you need to be real still for the sounds to start. When the animals and birds here people coming along they normally get quite.

dk

[The Palm Nut]

Great pictures Don, atleast I know Iam on the right track.

Mike

[The Palm Nut]

One more.

[The Palm Nut]

One more can't help myself.

[edric]

Beautiful, Ed

[epicure3]

A little OT Don, but do you find Brugmansia growing in the area where you live or does that species prefer areas further south in Brazil?

Thx