More than two thirds of the world's plant species are found in the tropical rainforest. More than 500 kinds of large plants may inhabit only 5 acres of rainforest. As many as 100 species of trees may grow in 1 square mile of land. Over 150 species of trees produce edible fruits.

People have used the plants of the tropical rain forests for food and medicine for hundreds of years. Avocados, cocoa, rubber, and vanilla are products from the rainforest as well as valuable hardwood trees, including mahogany and rosewood.

Plants in the rainforest provide shelter and food for rainforest animals as well as taking part in the gas exchanges which provide much of the world's oxygen supply.

Until the late 1940's, rainforests covered about 8.7 million square miles of the earth's land. Today, they cover less than half that area. Millions of acres of rain forests are destroyed each year by deforestation.