Rainforest Revelations

Archive for October 10th, 2012

In no small part, pristine, old-growth Daintree Rainforest owes its integrity to the magnificent design of the Fan Palm (Licuala ramsayi).  Spectacularly long-living, densely-packed and growing to two-thirds rainforest height, the large round leaves are organised to provide an excellent funnel that captures strangler seeds dropped by over-flying birds and fruit-bats.  Fan Palms are less susceptible to the effects of ‘strangulation’ that upper-canopy giants suffer.  Once established, the Fan Palm stranglers connect the upper network of vines that tie rainforest crowns into a single structural inter-connectedness, through a vertical integration into the root-mat at the forest-floor.

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