Guarana & Brasil

Today I will discuss about  different and interesting topics. Let's start with Brasil and guaraná, this plant  has Brazilian origin mainly because the conditions and the climate found in that country. The Amazon is located in the equatorial region and has a hot and humid climate. http://climanalise.cptec.inpe.br/~rclimanl/boletim/cliesp10a/fish.html The graphic bellow shows better how is the weather and how the rainfall is distributed over the year at the rain forest.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/ecosystems/tropical_rainforests_rev1.shtml It is possible to observe that the temperatures do not have a lot of oscillations during the year, but the rainy months are mainly from December till May. For guaraná production the plant needs low altitude, warm and humid climate with 85% relative humidity, 26ºC average annual temperature and annual rainfall between 1,500 and 2000 mm.  http://www.ceplac.gov.br/radar/guarana.htm W...

Today the topic is about improving plants, for understand it better we need to understand how happens the reproduction. Guaraná is monoecious, it means that the plant have separate male and the female flower on the same plant. So a cross pollination happens in those plants, by insects and wind. (tropical.theferns, n.d.) (Cristiane Krug, 2016) Those plants have strategies to prevent self-pollination, the pistil and stamen maturing at different times, so it can't reproduce by itself.  (Britannica, n.d.) To be a self-pollinated specie the plant need to have the male and the female part in the same flower in the same plant, then t he flower can reproduce by itself without any intervention, it can even occur when the flower still closed, in cross pollination the flower is lacking the male or the female part and need intervention from outside factors, it only occurs when the flower is open, normally the flowers are attractive with colourful colours...

Now is time to discuss something really important for plants, photosynthesis! Photosynthesis is the source of energy for plants, and it can be divided in two types: C3 and C4 The guaraná is a kind of plant that is located in warm and tropical weather. A studied was done with guaraná to show with group it fits in and the answer is :C4 Because guaraná  presentes greater stom atal resistance, especially in the dry period. So  under water stress conditions, it results in a better adaptation to dough. In these conditions happens a partial stomatal closure, what restraining the  water  vapour  loss  and  minimising  the  energy loss  by  transpiration,  may  also  restrain  the  CO2 entrance,  resulting  water  economy  and  reduction of defoliation. Transpiration and stomatal resistance variations of perennial tropical crops under soil water availability conditions a...

Today I will explain more detail about the Guaraná plant! Paullinia cupana is a dicot plant, a structure whose embryo has two cotyledons.   https://extension.illinois.edu/gpe/glossary/dicot.html Constituted by a fibrous root system, with thin, moderately branching roots growing from the stem. https://garden.org/courseweb/course1/week1/page8.htm Guaraná is a flower's are monoecious, it means that is a complete flower , where the flowers on the same plant have pistillate and staminate. The black seeds are found inside the fruits. Fruit                                             Flower Growth habitat: How it is a  neotropical plant, native to the Brazilian Amazon. The climate of the region of origin is between 22 and 20 deg C. The minimum temperature tolerated by this specie is 12 deg C.  With annual precipitation must higher...

What is guaraná? From where it comes from? Are questions that can appear when you read this word. This is why I decided to write about this really interesting plant, to clarify doubts and give always new information and data about it. The guaraná plant or better  Paullinia cupana,  has a botanic family Sapindaceae,   the plants that compose this family are in temperate climates and tropical climates,what explains the origin, that is  Brasil, to be more precise from the Amazon rain forest. Guaraná comes from tupi guarani, a  indigenous language of the native peoples of the amazon forest. The plant is a  vine and u sually it shows in the forest as shrub, but as it is a climbing plant it is not possible to generalise this shape. Composed of white or light yellow  flowers , the fruits have red, white and black colours, and seems small eyes.  The plant has been used for a long time in Brazil, as the name itself has indigeno...