I spent my entire time in the tropics and this is my first summer in a continental climate. It has brutally cold winter. But it's summer now.
I have a question, where and how does this much amount of plants suddenly appear? During the winter, if I remember, it was empty. I didn't remember seeing any dry stalks. But it's summer now, there are plants everywhere like forest. It's not about the plants, it's how dense they are that surprises me the most. Just look at the above picture. I can't even see the soil. It's like this in most of the place.
So I have so many questions. While trees shed leaves and come back, what happens to these plants? If I come back 1 year later, will I be able to find these same plants in the same spot? Or do they die and it's their children we will be seeing the next year? And how do they grow very quickly and densely like this in a short amount of time? In the tropics everything is more static.
by Swimming_Concern7662
2 Comments
No living thing is static. In the tropics or in a temperate clime, if there’s enough water, and warm enough, things will explode.
To answer your question: in the fall, some of these plants would complete their cycle and die. Their seeds will grow next year (over simplification, but that’s the gist of it). Some of these plants would grow dormant, their above ground parts die but the roots / rhizomes survives.
How do they grow quickly? Just what they’ve evolved to do. Plants can grow very quick. Bamboo can grow 3’ a day.
How to they grow so densely? Nature abhors a vacuum. If there’s bare soil, it won’t be for long.
Most of the plants in your picture are perennial, meaning they go dormant in autumn and don’t fully die. The roots remain alive underground. Those plants could be many years old.
There are also annual plants, which live for one season, make seeds, and then die. The combination of these with the perennial plants causes everything to fill in quite densely.
These plants are built to grow fast as soon as winter is over, so they can make use of the limited growing season.