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Tropical Paradise

The Tropical Rainforest, an inspiration for Tropical Paradise

You will travel to three different continents of the world to find yourself in a Tropical Paradise. Rainforests of America, Asia and Africa are known as the richest and oldest ecosystems in the world. Some Asian rainforests have existed for more than 100 million years, dating back to prehistoric times. During your walk you will see the flora and fauna of East Asia, Africa, and South America.

Climate

The tropical rainforests influence not only the cycle of certain flora and fauna, but also the climate. They have a warm climate, with an average temperature of 28 to 30°C. In tropical rainforests, the temperature never drops below 16°C. Thanks to dense vegetation and almost constant cloud cover, extreme temperatures hardly ever occur, which you do know in the Sahara Desert, for example.

The dense vegetation also provides shelter. This allows small prey animals to hide well from predators. You study this natural behavior also in Tropical Paradise.

Rain

Since about 1950, more than 50% of all rainforests on Earth have already disappeared thanks to human activities. Now rainforests with their diversity of flora and fauna are still in danger of extinction due to logging, mining, and other human activities. Every day many plant and animal species are dying out and more and more nature is disappearing.

Endangered

Since about 1950, more than 50% of all rainforests on Earth have already disappeared thanks to human activities. Now rainforests with their diversity of flora and fauna are still in danger of extinction due to logging, mining, and other human activities. Every day many plant and animal species are dying out and more and more nature is disappearing.

The Tropical Paradise, a variety of flora

Sago palm

The Sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is native to tropical Asia. Nowadays it is found worldwide in frost-free areas. Because this palm fern occurs in a subtropical climate, the plant does not tolerate low temperatures.

With us you will see both male and female Sago palms.

The special female specimen is characterized by its magnificent flowering, in which its leaves stand majestically upright. In female plants, you see the cones per shoot at the top of the stem, interspersed with bundles of ordinary leaves. The scales of the cones eye leaf formation and turn light brown. As many as 5 to 6 seeds with an orange seed coat develop in the lower half of the cones. This amazing sight, leads a lot of photographers to ecstasy, you too? 

In the male Sago palm, you can find the reproductive organs in the middle of the stem. There you see a thick, long cone at the heart of the leaf bundle. A single cone produces millions of pollen grains. These grains are supposed to pollinate the female Sago palm. This pollination is done by the wind. 

Weeping fig

The Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina) is also called the fiscus tree and is native to parts of Southeast Asia and tropical Australia. This tree species is from the Moraceae family.

The Weeping fig has arching twigs and shiny, oval leaves with a pointed tip. These leaves have a length of 6 to 13 centimeters. In tropical conditions like ours, the Weeping fig forms a very large and stately tree. People also plant this tree species in parks and other urban environments, such as along wide roads. Therefore, merchants grow this plant in the service of park tree, but even as a houseplant in temperate climates. This is because the plant has elegant growth and high tolerance to difficult growing conditions. The Weeping fig grows best under sunny conditions, but also thrives in shade.

Die Menschen pflanzen diese Baumart auch in Parks und anderen städtischen Umgebungen, zum Beispiel entlang breiter Straßen. Daher verkaufen die Händler diese Pflanze als Parkbaum, aber auch als Zimmerpflanze in gemäßigten Klimazonen. Die Pflanze hat nämlich einen eleganten Wuchs und eine hohe Toleranz gegenüber schwierigen Anbaubedingungen. Die Trauerfeige wächst am besten an einem sonnigen Standort, gedeiht aber auch im Schatten.

Walking palm

The Walking palm (Socratea exorrhiza) is native to the rain forests of Central and South America. The Walking palm derives its name from the characteristic feature that it does not have ordinary roots, but aerial roots. Aerial roots grow down from the trunk. Because the roots sprout and grow in the direction of light and water, this tree “walks” just a few centimeters per year.
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In the base of the tree, moisture accumulates, which can be used as ‘drinking water’.  You can easily extract this one. Native tribes used to make great use of water from this natural source. Even hikers who now unexpectedly run out of water in the tropical rainforest look for this tree to survive.

Chinese rose

Originally, the Chinese ros (Hibiscus rosa sinensis) comes from Southeast Asia and China. It is from the Mallows family. People plant this plant widely. Because this plant grows to about 4 meters, many people use the Chinese rose as a hedge.

The flowers are solitary in leaf axils and have different sizes. The largest flowers are 20 centimeters in diameter.  The wild species has crimson flowers. Nurseries also developed cultivars with white, yellow, salmon, lilac, dark red and mixed-colored flowers.

Because Mondo Verde annually prunes the roses back to a height of 5 centimeters, the flowers now also grow at the bottom of the stem. The Portuguese Garden has a huge rose display spread over 4 beds for visitors to admire.

Tropical Paradise, a variety of fauna