What is the Amazon rainforest but a world of plants? Plants are the forest. Here are presented a tiny fraction of the virtually countless different kinds of plants. Most of the plants here are well-known and have been described by scientists. Yet there are at least 50,000 woody plants (trees, shrubs, vines) that have been described from the Amazon—that's about a fifth of all the world's known species. Undoubtedly there are at least as many again. Without plants life as we know it would not exist. They provide food and shelter for animals besides humans, but equally important, plants have a beauty of their own and a right to existence for their own sake, not just for their usefulness. Look at some of these wonderful plants and see if you agree. Click below for photos of plants you'd like to see. (For pictures and information on native uses of Amazon plants, visit our Ethnobotany pages.)