The Catatumbo moist forests stretch across the Colombia–Venezuela border on the slightly higher ground around Lake Maracaibo, occupying Colombia's Norte de Santander department and the Venezuelan states of Zulia and Lara as four separate blocks within the Catatumbo Valley. These are lowland and premontane tropical forests whose canopy is built from families such as Bombacaceae, Fabaceae, Sapotaceae, and Lecythidaceae, with emergent trees including the kapok (Ceiba pentandra) and wild cashew (Anacardium excelsum). The climate is warm and equatorial with a dry season, holding fairly steady temperatures year-round, while rainfall climbs sharply where prevailing winds bank clouds against the cordilleras along the southwestern edge of the basin. Counted among the world's richest forests for floral diversity yet still poorly surveyed, the ecoregion is rated Critical/Endangered by the World Wildlife Fund, heavily fragmented by deforestation, livestock grazing, and oil exploration. For gardeners, its native ornamental aroids in the genera Philodendron and Anthurium are familiar tropical foliage plants.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 8.8°N, 72.6°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.7°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
8,820 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 52
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: