Monteverde : Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest

Table 3.5. Distinctive bark textures and trunk shapes of trees at Monteverde.

Plant Name Family Bark and Trunk Characteristics

Allophylus accidentalis
Billia colombiana
Bourreria costaricensis
Cecropia spp.
Cedrela spp.
Chionanthus panamensis
Chomelia venulosa

Conostegia oerstediana
Crossopetalum tonduzii
Fie us hartwegii
F. obtusifolia
F. tuerckheimii
F. velutina
Hampea appendiculata.

Hasseltia floribunda
Myrcianthes fragrans
Pouteria exfoliata
Sideroxylon stenospermum
Styrax argenteus

Viburnum costaricanum
Zanthoxylum spp.

Sapindaceae

Hippocastanaceae

Boraginaceae

Cecropiaceae

Meliaceae

Oleaceae

Rubiaceae

Melastomataceae

Celastraceae

Moraceae

Moraceae

Moraceae

Moraceae

Malvaceae

Flacourtiaceae

Myrtaceae

Sapotaceae

Sapotaceae

Styracaceae

Caprifoliaceae

Rutaceae

Ropy in large individuals

Calico pattern of large chip scars

Finely textured beige bark with deep fluting

Ringed with regular nodes marked by raised ridges

Checkered pattern in vertical columns

Fluted

Deeply fluted and peeling in large strips that reveal smooth

red-brown bark underneath

Beige bark, flaking in fine vertical fissures

Fluted and ropy

Ropy and fluted, formed from coalesced aerial roots

Ropy and fluted, formed from coalesced aerial roots

Ropy and fluted, formed from coalesced aerial roots

Ropy and fluted, formed from coalesced aerial roots

Smooth beige, fibrous bark with horizontal cracks,

"Frankenstein" scars

Ropy

Smooth cinnamon and gray bark (like guava)

Scalloped pattern formed by small, exfoliating chips

Rough, black bark

Uniformly cylindrical trunk with red-brown, finely

striated bark

Fluted and ropy

Cone-shaped spines

They are typical of the following species: Cecropia
spp. (Cecropiaceae), Chamaedorea tepejilote (Areca-
ceae), Ficus spp. (Moraceae) (especially F. hartwegii,
F. tuerckheimii, and F. velutina), Iriartea deltoidea
(Arecaceae), and Tovomitopsis allenii and T. psycho-
trifolia (Clusiaceae). On the Atlantic slope, Ocotea
monteverdensis (Lauraceae) often develops masses of
stringy stilt roots extending from the buttresses, a fea-
ture not seen on the Pacific side.

Crown shapes. Distinctive crown shapes are less con-
spicuous in the cloud forest than in the lowlands. Most
crowns are hemispherical to conical, cylindrical, or ir-
regular, with branches jutting out opportunistically
into light gaps. Monolayer crowns characteristic of
some secondary species are found on the Pacific slope
(e.g., Lysiloma divaricata) and Atlantic slope (e.g.,
Acacia ruddiae, Albizia carbonaria). The leaves of
Sapium rigidifolium, a canopy tree in the swamp, are
uniform in size and arranged in a monolayer with dis-
tinct crown shyness (adjacent branches and crowns
separated by a clear boundary zone apparently result-
ing from twigs rubbing together at branch extremities).
In the cloud forest, crown shyness is more common
where the canopy is exposed to strong trade winds (e.g.,
east-facing slopes; Rebertus 1988).

Leaf diversity. Fewer species with compound leaves

occur in montane forests than in the lowlands (where

the two large compound-leaved families, Fabaceae

and Bignoniaceae, dominate). However, the cloud

forest supports many species of Meliaceae, Fabaceae

(Mimosoideae), and Sapindaceae, whose pinnate

leaves have leaflets of the size and texture of an aver-

age simple leaf. Pithecellobium (Cojoba) costaricense

is the only example of a tree with finely divided, bi-

pinnate leaves in the cloud forest. Cloud forest lianas

also either are simple-leaved (e.g., Celastrus vul-

canicola, Combretum laxum, Passiflora spp., Smilax

spp.) or have large leaflets (e.g., Mucuna urens, Paul-

linia a ustin -smithii].

Leaves in the drier, hotter areas of the Pacific slope

generally have thinner leaves that are a light shade of

green. Leaves of cloud forest trees are mostly small

to medium in size, dark green in color, and often thick

and stiff in texture (Kapelle et al. 1990). Trees on the

very wet Atlantic slope tend to have large, dark green

leaves intermediate in texture. When viewed from a

distance, the canopy of secondary forests are usually

a lighter shade of green than are primary forests.

Large leaves are common in cloud forest herbs,

including gap-colonizing species (e.g., Calathea crotali-

fera, C. marantifolia, Costus wilsonii, Gunnera insignis,

Heliconia monteverdensis, Renealmia scaposa, Xantho-

soma undipes), tree trunk climbers (e.g., Monstera,

Philodendron, Asplundia, Spaeradenia), and epiphytes

(e.g., Anthurium caperatum, Pitcairnia atrorubens,

Vriesea werckleana, Pleurothallis saccata). Many epi-

49 Plants and Vegetation