Pepper family and other Monteverde shrubs
Anna:
During
my year abroad, I saw so many unfamiliar plants that I had to learn a
bit of botany in self defense. Plant families helped me put the
flora of a region in perspective, and I came to think of all plants in
the same family as cousins. Sure, they each had their unique
traits, but they often shared a certain resemblance and sometimes even
acted similarly within different ecosystems or on different continents.
Piperaceae --- the
pepper family --- caught my fancy with the plants'
finger-like flower stalks and their pantropical range. In fact,
despite containing several genera, just about every member of
Piperaceae that you'll meet is a Piper or a Peperomia. I saw dozens of both
in the Australian rainforest and again in Costa Rica where 
Piper species were the most common
shrubs in the Pacific
slope seasonal forest.
The drawing to the right
is a Piper shrub with flowers just
beginning to form, while the image below shows an unknown Piper shrub with those flowers
expanded to full size.
And here are some
Monteverde area Peperomias:
Since Piper species were
the most common shrubs in the Monteverde area,
I thought I'd throw in a few other drawings I made of dry forest
shrubs. Keep in mind that these shrubs aren't necessarily the
most common species found in the tropical dry forest, but they are the
ones that caught my eye. I hope putting the images on the web
will
help someone else with their identification woes.
Notice how the Begonia
cooperi flowers
are quite similar to those on the Begonia involcrata even though
the former is a shrub and the latter is an herb. Flower shape often
holds true within a family even when everything else changes.
Maggie:
3-7-01
We
went to an Italian Restaurant for supper yesterday and lit the candle
on the table with Anna's lighter. The waiter told us that his sister
is from Seatle. "It is cold there, and rains all the time, and
snows in the mountains. I don't know. I like it here in Costa
Rica." I have to agree.
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