Hobbies And Interests
Trees
Approximately 755 species of trees and treelets can be found in Monteverde, providing homes and food for animals, insects and even other plants. Astounding diversity and beauty occurs within these species. Over 100 species of trees can be found flowering at once during the peak months of March through May, while fruit trees flourish in the fall months. Monkey's comb, which produces prickly fruit, and sapote, which creates a soft fruit, are among the distinctive trees found in the Monteverde cloud forest.
Epiphytes
There are more species of epiphytes, also known as air plants, than any other plant form in the Monteverde forest, numbering 878 known species. Epiphytes grow on other plants, but unlike parasites, they get their nutrients and moisture from other sources: rain water, mist and organic litter near their roots. One exception is mistletoe, an epiphyte dependent entirely on its host. Hemi-epiphytes begin to grow as epiphytes, eventually dropping roots into the ground to access their own nutrients from the soil. Plants known as stranglers, foliage that eventually kills its host by strangling the trunk and blocking its sunlight, also start out as epiphytes. One example is Ficus, of which several species occur at Monteverde.
Orchids
More orchids can be found at Monteverde than in any other location worldwide, with over 450 documented species. Of these, over 350 species are classified as epiphytes. The others grow using other methods: as low terrestrial herbs or, in one case, as a vine. Despite the impressive number of species, three genus types dominate at Monteverde. These three genera--Epidendrum, Maxillaria and Pleurothallis--make up nearly 40 percent of all of Monteverde's orchid population.
Ferns
In the cloud forest of Monteverde, the abundance of trees is conducive to the existence of epiphytic ferns; terrestrial ferns can also be found beneath the canopy, though they are slightly fewer in number. Over 350 species of ferns in total have been documented at Monteverde with greatly variable growing habits among them, behaving as trees, shrubs or vines. Seven species of tree ferns can be found at Monteverde, including the sizable and distinct Sphaeropteris brunei, which can grow to be over 26 feet in height and possesses a solid, scaly trunk.