The Guinean montane forests crown the higher reaches of the Guinea Highlands, above roughly 600 meters, spanning Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire across massifs such as the Fouta Djallon plateau, the Loma Mountains (home to Mount Bintumani, the highest peak in West Africa west of Mount Cameroon), and the Nimba Range. Mid-elevation forests are dominated by genera including Parinari excelsa and Syzygium, while higher slopes give way to grassland interlaced with bamboo (Oxytenanthera abyssinica), wetlands, and gallery forest, and cloud-shrouded stands above about 1,000 meters host abundant epiphytes. Annual rainfall ranges between roughly 1,600 and 2,400 millimeters, with ocean-facing southern slopes far wetter than northern rain-shadow areas swept by the dry Harmattan winds blowing off the Sahara from November to March. These isolated peaks shelter around 35 endemic plant species and serve as a stronghold for the western chimpanzee, with key sites such as Mount Nimba protected as a strict nature reserve and World Heritage Site. For gardeners, the native flora includes familiar broadleaf-tropical genera like Syzygium and Garcinia.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 11.4°N, 12.1°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.4°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
Afrotropic
Approximate area
11,989 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
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
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
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.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: