Plants found in the ENVIRONMENT:
The plants that are found in the environment of the eastern lowland gorilla that i am going to be focusing on are Lianas, Drip Tips, Buttresses, and Epiphytes. The first plant that we are going to talk about are Lianas and lianas are climbing woody vines that drape rainforest trees. They have adapted to life in the rain-forest by having their roots in the ground and climbing high into the tree canopy to reach available sunlight. Many lianas start life in the rain-forest canopy and send roots down to the ground.
Drip Tips, buttresses, and epiphytes:
The leaves of forest trees have adapted to cope with exceptionally high rainfall. Many tropical rain-forest leaves have a drip tip. It is thought that these drip tips enable rain drops to run off quickly. Plants need to shed water to avoid growth of fungus and bacteria in the warm, wet tropical rain-forest. Buttress roots provide extra stability, especially since roots of tropical rain-forest trees are not typically as deep as those of trees in temperate zones.Many large trees have massive ridges near the base that can rise 30 feet high before blending into the trunk. Epiphytes are plants that live on the surface of other plants, especially the trunk and branches. They grow on trees to take advantage of the sunlight in the canopy. Most are orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and Philodendron relatives. Tiny plants called epiphylls, mostly mosses, liverworts and lichens, live on the surface of leaves.