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Cochliostema: Tank epiphyte
Arranging leaves in the shape of a funnel is a perfect adaptation to life in the
forest canopy. These funnels can function as simple compost heaps that catch leaf
litter falling from above. In some plant groups, though, they form watertight tanks
that act as water cisterns housing their own tiny colony of animals. Funnel forming
epiphytes are especially common in two groups of plants, ferns and bromeliads. In
the plant kingdom, evolutionary adaptations like this often occur in parallel.
As an example, the genus Cochliostema has leaf tanks that look just like those
found among the bromeliads – but the two groups are completely unrelated. Cochliostema
is member of the spiderwort family, which consists mostly of grass-like herbs and has
nothing to do with the bromeliad family. As in evolution nothing can be copied, this
is an example that different plants often find the same solutions to similar environmental
conditions, independently of one another.
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Cochliostema: Tank epiphyte (MP3, 513 KB)
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