Give yourself, a loved one, or a hostess an instant virtual trip to the islands with a lovely bouquet of rainforest flowers!  Rainforest flowers make the perfect bon voyage centerpiece for someone going off to the tropics, as well!

While rainforest flowers typically are found in, well, the rainforest, there are a few that can be readily found at your local florist. If your florist doesn’t offer a pre-made rainforest arrangement, just ask them to make a nice arrangement including any of the following flowers and greens:

Orchids are perhaps the most common, and best known, rainforest flowers that one can readily find at the florist. With over 22,000 species of orchids, the orchid family is the largest family of flowering plants. While not all orchids are tropical rainforest plants, many are, and orchids in your rainforest bouquet certainly count. The Dendrobium orchid is one rainforest orchid that is regularly found in rainforest bouquets and vases.

Anthurium (also known as Antherium) are among the next most common of the rainforest flowers to be found at your local florist. This broad, leaf-shaped (and, locally, usually red) flower with a large protruding spadix is sometimes nicknamed the “boy plant”, for somewhat obvious reasons.

Protea, also known as sugarbushes, come primarily from Africa, where they grow along, among other places, the Limpopo river. This national symbol of South Africa comes in many varieties, however the most relatively common are the King Protea and Queen Protea, so named, some say, because they look much like a crown atop a head.

In addition to orchids, anthurium, and protea, you may want to add some sprigs of palm leaves and ferns to your rainforest flower bouquet or vase.

However you choose to arrange them, your rainforest flowers are sure to bring enjoyment and thoughts of the tropics to whomever you give them.

Originally posted 2010-01-27 21:42:40.