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Brownea macrophylla
"Brownea is a genus of about 30 species in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The genus is native to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are shrubs and trees growing to 20 m tall."
Flower clusters, found on tree trunks rather than branches and are possibly pollinated by bats. Found at the Tiputini Biology Station in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Nice shot - hard to capture those rich colors in the dim understory of the rainforest!
Congratulations Kate! This beautiful Brownea was selected as Spotting of the Day! Special thanks to Craig for introducing me to the concept of cauliflory.
"This stunning Brownea, native to the tropical regions of the Americas, is exhibiting cauliflory, or the habit of flowering directly on trunks and stems."
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@Craig and Bayucca: I didn't actually see bats visiting the flowers, I thought I remembered our guide saying that they were bat-pollinated. I could be wrong, it's been a few years!
@Ashish: Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the rest of the tree or branches.
Wonderful flowers...
Like to see entire plant.. upload picture of branch...or entire plant..
@Craig: Just reading your comment, you were also a little bit confused about the pollination method. Do you have additional information?
Looking at the blossom I am just wondering which animal would pollinate this beauty. I guess that in this case it is more the large size of the flower itself will attrack the bats and not the "usual" colors of white flowers, whereas in the case of diurnal hummingbirds the flowers have mostly a reddish or yellowish colors. Very interesting spotting and a fantastic flower!! And it would also rise again the controverse question about the ability of bats noticing colors. I do not know the actual state of knowledge, but I remember that bats are actually not color-blind. Maybe somebody knows more about...
Brownea are stunning aren't they?! This is a great example of cauliflory, or the habit of flowering directly on trunks and stems. Did you actually see bats visiting these flowers? The colour and copious nectar they produce I would have thought suggests that they would be hummingbird pollinated.
Spotted on May 2, 2009
Submitted on Feb 14, 2012
