Eastern Arc forests
RESOLVE 9
The Eastern Arc forests form a discontinuous chain of ancient, isolated mountain blocks rising from the lowland plains of southeastern Kenya and eastern Tanzania, spanning ranges such as the Taita Hills, the East and West Usambara, the Uluguru, and the Udzungwa Mountains. Above the lowland forest, the slopes carry submontane, montane, and upper montane moist broadleaf forest, with characteristic trees including Ocotea usambarensis, the conifer Podocarpus latifolius, and Ilex mitis. The climate is wet and tropical, with the Uluguru receiving up to about 3,000 millimeters of rain a year and other mountains exceeding 2,000, though conditions have been trending drier and more seasonal in recent decades. These isolated highlands are a renowned center of endemism, holding over 2,000 plant species with hundreds found nowhere else, even as much of the original forest has been cleared on the lower slopes. For gardeners, the region is especially notable as the original homeland of the African violet (Saintpaulia) and the busy Lizzie (Impatiens), two genera that became staples of houseplant and bedding horticulture.
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 · 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.