Belize flora trees orchids and plants

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Flora

Belize has an outstanding variety of flora, here we give just a brief sample of the outstanding flora of Belize. For a complete and comprehensive description of the flora in general visits Bioligical-diversity.info.

For a complete and comprehensive description of orchids visit Belize Botanical Gardens.

Despite its small size, Belize supports a relatively diverse range of plants and forest habitats. It is home to an estimated 4,000 species of flowering plants, including over 730 tree species and some 280 orchid species. For these reasons, Belize has been called "a Garden of Eden," and it is one of the few countries where thousands of acres of forest are still in semi-pristine condition.

Due to its somewhat northerly latitude (15º to 19º N), Belize is considered sub-tropical, with varying rainfall, temperatures, and humidity throughout the country effecting even the growth of the common mangrove. Among the plantlife of Belize you'll find mangroves, bamboo, palms, and swamp cypresses, as well as ferns, vines, and flowers creeping from tree to tree, creating a dense growth. Further south in the Toledo district at Blue Creek you'll encounter classic tropical rainforest species, including tall mahoganies, campeche, sapote, and ceiba, one of the tallest trees in the jungle. In this remote area you'll also find exotic orchids in many sizes, shapes and colors. Of the 71 orchid species reported in Belize, 20% are terrestrial (growing in the ground) and 80% are epiphytic (attached to a host plant - in this case trees - and deriving most of it's moisture and nutrients from the air and rain). Many exotic fruits and nuts can also been found in Belize, from the edible tamarind pod to tropical bananas, pineapples, passion fruit and sapodilla fruit, a sweet, granular fruit prized by the locals. Cacao and cashew nuts are also part of this amazing tropical diversity. Belize has one of the world's richest habitats for flora and fauna. No fewer than 4,000 different species of native flowering plants are found within its borders, along with about 700 species of trees and several hundred species of other plants. Scientists are only now beginning to carry out an exhaustive inventory of Belize's plants. The task is daunting: over 70 percent of the country is under some kind of forest cover, and almost half of Belize's primary forest is still standing.

Trees

Belizean forests support over 700 tree species including a large variety of economically and historically important trees. Economically valuable trees have played a vital role in the history of the country. Indeed, the history and the very existence of Belize as a colony is inseparable form the logging industry. Among the most important historical tree crops are logwood, mahogany and chicle. The national tree of Belize is the Mahogany Tree (Swietenia Macrophilla).

Fruits and nuts

Common fruit trees of Belize include Cashew, Coconut, Custard Apple, Guava, Mango and Papaya, Banana, Pineapple and Mammee.

Orchids

The national flower of Belize is the Black Orchid (Encyclia Cocheeata). There are approximately 250 species of orchids in Belize.

For a complete and comprehensive description of orchids visit orchids

Medicinal Plants

At Ix Chel Farm, the Panti Medicinal Trail winds through a living display of arboreal and herbal remedies in the second-growth forest. The trees of nature seem overwhelming as one strolls along the path, along which signs describe one plant after another, many bearing unusually descriptive names. By cooperating with the wise elders of a community, ethnobotanists have been able to collect samples of many unusual plant specimens, and new kinds of non-traditional medicine are now being used to treat the sick and injured.

Other Plant Life

Belize is estimated to have roughly 4,000 species of native flowering plants (Angiosperms) of which 2,500 are dicots (Dwyer and Spellman 1981) and 1,500 are monocots (Spellman et al. 1975). The latter include approximately 250 species of orchids (B. Adams, pers. comm.). Approximately 700 species of native trees are reported for Belize, representing 331 genera in 87 plant families.