Inside The New York Botanical Garden

A World of Plants Spotlight: Tropical Lowland Rain Forest

Posted in Exhibitions on January 29 2010, by Plant Talk

Laura Collier is Marketing Associate at The New York Botanical Garden

Inside the glasshouseChocolate, papaya, guava, cashews—the list of plants in the Tropical Lowland Rain Forest of A World of Plants in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory seems strangely like the list of my favorite foods.

Beyond food, the rain forest provides us with an incredible diversity of plants and animal life. Though they cover less than 7 percent of Earth’s surface, rain forests contain almost one-third of the planet’s known plant species. Medicines like aspirin and codeine are derived from rain forest plants, and scientists are hopeful for more plant-based drugs that may be integral in therapies for cancer and HIV/AIDS.

In the gallery the warmth and humidity immediately make me feel like I’m back in the Amazon rain forest, especially because my glasses fog up after being out in the cold. By far the best view in the gallery is from atop the skyway platform. From there you can enjoy the canopy and survey the rich greenery all around. Before you move on to the next gallery, be sure to check out the healer’s hut, with samples and information about traditional uses of plants in the forest.

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