Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests
RESOLVE 642
The Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests cover the Yungui Plateau of southern China, spreading across most of Guizhou province and into Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, and Hunan at elevations of roughly 1,000 to 1,400 meters. This is classic South China karst country, where Paleozoic limestone has dissolved into block-shaped hills, steep-walled basins, caves, and subterranean rivers. The natural cover is subtropical evergreen broadleaf and mixed forest, with Chinese red pine in the north and Yunnan pine in the south alongside broadleaf genera such as Quercus, Rhododendron, Erythrina, Ficus, Sterculia, and Helicia. Although rainfall is high, the porous karst soils drain quickly and hold little water, so plants here contend with drought stress despite the wet climate. The ecoregion shelters the endemic Guizhou snub-nosed monkey and protected plants including the dove tree (Davidia involucrata), though much of the original forest has been converted and now survives mainly in reserves such as Wulingyuan and Zhangjiajie. For gardeners, this karst flora is a source of well-known ornamentals, from rhododendrons and camellias to the prized dove tree.
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.
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.