Iquitos várzea
RESOLVE 469
The Iquitos várzea is a seasonally flooded forest ecoregion of the western Amazon, spanning the low river basins of northeastern Peru, northwestern Brazil, and northern Bolivia along the upper Amazon, Ucayali, Marañón, and Madre de Dios rivers. Whitewater rivers carrying nutrient-rich Andean sediment inundate the forest by up to about 7 meters for much of the year, building fertile soils and a shifting mosaic of oxbow lakes, levees, grasslands, and forest in varied stages of succession. Mature stands on old alluvial terraces hold trees of the genera Ceiba, Eschweilera, Hura, Spondias, and Virola, and the region often carries large stands of buriti palm (Mauritia flexuosa), with a heliconia-, ginger-, and palm-rich understory. The climate is humid and equatorial, with annual rainfall of roughly 2,400 to 3,000 millimeters and average temperatures near 26 to 27 degrees Celsius. Its flagship species is the now-endangered Amazon river dolphin, and although the várzea supports rich mammal and bird diversity, only a small fraction is protected and it faces heavy pressure from deforestation, ranching, and mining. Gardeners may recognize native plants of horticultural interest here, including the vitamin-rich fruiting shrub camu-camu and the prized timber tree Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata).
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.