Central American dry forests
RESOLVE 527
The Central American dry forests stretch along the Pacific coast from southern Chiapas in Mexico through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua to Guanacaste in Costa Rica, with additional pockets in inland valleys among the Central American mountains. This is a low-stature, largely deciduous forest whose canopy trees can reach about 30 meters and drop their leaves in the dry season; many belong to the bean family, and characteristic genera include Enterolobium, Tabebuia, Guazuma, Calycophyllum, and Croton. The climate is tropical and strongly seasonal, with annual rainfall between roughly 1,000 and 2,000 mm and a pronounced dry season lasting five to eight months on the Pacific slope's rain shadow. At least fifty plant species are endemic here, and the ecoregion shelters jaguars, pumas, ocelots, and tapirs alongside restricted-range birds such as the giant wren and blue-tailed hummingbird, yet much of it has been cleared for cattle pasture and croplands and is rated critically endangered. For gardeners, native ornamental trees from this dry-forest flora include the showy-flowered Tabebuia and the broad, umbrella-crowned Guanacaste (Enterolobium).
About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome
Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.
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 · 4
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.
Currently suited · 48
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
Collections for this ecoregion
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.