San Vito, the closest town to Las Cruces, was settled primarily by Italian coffee growers. Now, there is much less coffee production, but there are still a good number of farms. At Finca Cántaros, an American-owned plot and tourist attraction between Las Cruces and San Vito, there is a small plot where coffee and a few other agricultural plants are grown. I realized I didn’t have any photographs of coffee trees… so here goes.
The ends of these ferns have a small hairy, root-like structure that may be used to attach to nearby growing plants.
Upon disturbing the leaves, Azteca ants rush out to protect their host plant, which provide food and shelter for them. I’ve posted a little about Cecropia before here and here.
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Mel and José collected several similar looking, native species for their decomposition experiments. We chose leaves of Miconia appendiculata and an invasive bamboo (collecting leaves here) to compare in their experiments. Here, they collect the M. appendiculata leaves from trees lining the Río Java.
Liverworts are common around stream banks and trail edges at Las Cruces. They form large, mats along steep banks. Some, including the one below, have gamete-producing structures projecting from their flat “leaves”. From these dome-like gametangia, hair like projections (sporophytes) hang and release spores to begin the next generation.
A blueberry (Vaccinium consanguieneum) commonly grows on mountain tops in Costa Rica above 2000 m. The berries tend to be a bit small, and not very sweet. Here’s one in bloom.
