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 21 leafless Jacquinia DHJanzen100330.jpg high resolution
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| This is what a Costa Rican Jacquinia nervosa tree looks like during the rainy season. Huh? Yes, during the rainy season this species of tree drops its leaves and becomes dormant. It does not even have lateral roots for mineral uptake at the ground surface at this time of year (when all the other plants in the habitat are fully active). And as it survives through the six month rainy season, its food reserves gradually dwindle (being a hot climate, it loses reserves through ordinary respiration since it cannot turn itself off as thoroughly as does a dormant seed - recall that temperate zone trees are effectively in a refrigerator or freezer during the winter, so they do not have this problem as severely). And see image DHJanzen100330.jpg for comparison. | ||
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