Riches of the Rain Forest

Even to a botanist, the rain forests of the tropics consist of a bewildering variety of plants and plant forms, most of them woody and tall and therefore bearing their flowers and fruits discretely out of sight in the dense, high canopy. Animal and bird life is arboreal, heard but not often seen, while the insects, fungi and bacteria at work are specialized studies in themselves. In this eminently readable book, the author brings together an interesting collection of vignettes on plant and animal life in the rain forests of Malaysia and Indonesia — the richest in numbers of species in the world. Each plant chosen exemplifies some aspect of the wonderful web of rain forest life. Evolving and proliferating through millions of years, the complex interrelationships of a rain forest can be admired — or destroyed — by human beings, but never replaced. The author cogently illustrates the basic principles of rain forest ecology, which in its intricate complexity makes of any rain forest a wonder of the natural world, and uses examples throughout to develop a passionate plea for conservation. The book is elegantly illustrated with color plates drawn by Mohamed Anwar of the Bogor Herbarium and line drawings by the author herself.