On my way into Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park, a tiny protected area on the immensely diverse Cerrado of Brazil, I saw this colorful flash of pink in the corner of my eye. Then another one, and I immediately had to stop the car and explore this huge flower.
My very first encounter of this species, and how lucky I was to visit during their short bloom! This later appeared to be just one of many “wow” flowers in this park. A park of incredible floral diversity! I have never encountered so many species of plants in an area as here, and I asked myself how it can be that there is so little public knowledge of this paradise! Why are there no documentaries in Nat Geo, and Discovery channels? Just one series could be of all the sweet fruits here! I was astounded by the sweetness many of the fruits had here. Not to mention the sweet scent of the flowers!
The Cerrado is ignored by the major nature networks, and thus the public knows close to nothing about this incredible treasure trove of floral species! This in turn gives plenty of room for the huge agriculture industry to kill the last remains of flora that does not exist anywhere else on the planet!
Most of the Cerrado is now Soy plantations – food for cattle and humans in the rest of the world. Diversity has been replaced by death – one species of plant for miles and miles on end, making it impossible for fauna and insects to live here anymore. The silence has become deafening! Even in this national park they have seen a steady decline of insect species and numbers of each species. The suspect is poison runoff from the plantations.
Native range is Brazil.
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Last updated on 30 April 2023
