Deciduous Rainforest Plants

Deciduous Rainforest Shrubs

• Rainforest shrubs are woody and have multistem bodies. Deciduous shrubs often shed leaves before or during the dry season in rainforests in order to conserve energy and prepare for the coming rainy season. Some deciduous shrubs display extravagant changes while undergoing the process of shedding; some of them display a lot of changes in their color, while others produce many flowers to replace the leaves they have shed.

  Most deciduous shrubs produce flowers during shedding because they have a greater chance of distributing their pollens in wider areas. Common deciduous shrubs include the honeysuckle and the forsythia, which naturally grow in tropical rainforests in Asia and the Americas.

Deciduous Rainforest Trees

• Deciduous trees often have broad and thin leaves in order to get the maximum amount of sunlight. These leaves are also designed to let water fall down easily in order to avoid rotting and severe buildup of water on the tree's branches. During the dry season deciduous trees exhibit an extravagant change in color as well, as the plant prepares for limited photosynthesis. Some of the more common deciduous rainforest trees include the mimosa tree and some species of the magnolia tree.

Role of Deciduous Plants in a Rainforest

• The main contribution of deciduous plants in rainforests is that they nurture the soil through the leaves that they shed during the dry season. When the dry season ends and rain comes again the leaves that have fallen off from deciduous plants rot and become a natural fertilizer for the whole forest. This is crucial to the continuous survival of the rainforest.

Advantages of Deciduous Plants

• Deciduous plants require less water during the period that they have shed their leaves. They can survive better than evergreen plants located in the same rainforest since they don't need as much water to survive. Since deciduous plants also pollinate during the time they shed their leaves, they also have a higher chance to proliferate since the wind can carry their pollen easily.