Bromeliads
These beautiful plants have thick waxy leaves that help form a reservoir for catching rain water. Some bromeliads can hold several gallons of water. These reservoirs can become ecosystems of their own, which can be home to: frogs, tadpoles, salamanders, snails, beetles, and mosquito larvae. When an animal dies, their bodies decompose and furnish the plant with nutrients.
Epiphytes
Also known as air plants, grow everywhere. Mainly found on branches, trunks, and leaves of trees, this type of plant includes orchids, cacti, bromeliads, aroids, lichens, mosses and ferns.
Saphrophytes
These are the decomposers of the rainforest. They compete against heavy rainfall which washes away nutrients on the floor of the rainforest. Many saprophytes are so small, they cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Buttress Roots
The soil in the rainforest is very poor with the nutrients available largely at the surface level. Because of this, rainforest trees have very shallow roots. Very tall trees had developed ways of getting additional support by forming buttressed roots, which grow out from the base of the trunk sometimes as high as 15 feet above the ground.
Lianas
90% of the worlds vine species grow in tropical rainforests. Lianas are a type of climbing vine found throughout the rainforest. With thick woody stems and various lengths and shapes, they climb from the forest floor up to the sunlight they need for survival. When they reach the top of the trees, they usually attach themselves to other trees or wrap around other lianas to create a network with strong support against winds.
Stilt (prop roots)
Mangrove rainforest trees require a different support system. These trees grow in wet, muddy soil which gets flooded a lot. Because of this problem, they grow pitchfork-like extensions to anchor themselves to the soil.
Carnivorous Plants
Some plants adapted to obtain nutrients from animals. The most well know plant would be the Venus fly trap, but more impressive would be the pitcher plant. This plant grow 30 ft. tall and have pitchers 12 in. in length, usually filled with digested insects. These plants also eat small mammals and reptiles that try to consume the insects from the pitcher.
Orchids
Orchids are one of the most abundant and varied flowering plants. There are over 20,000 known species. They are especially common in moist tropical regions. Temperate orchids grow in the soil, while tropical orchids grow non-parasitically on trees.
Strangler
Stranglers are part of the fig family. In Spanish they are called “matapalo” or “killer tree.” The seed of the strangler fig starts its life as an epiphyte growing high in the trees. The plant sends down long roots to the ground where it begins to surround the host tree. It grow very quickly and suffocates the host. Once the host has died, it leaves an enormous strangler, with a hollow core.