The Knysna-Amatole montane forests are South Africa's smallest ecoregion by area, spanning the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces in two separate enclaves: the coastal Knysna forest along the Garden Route and the Amatole forests in the mountains roughly 400 km inland to the northeast. These are South Africa's largest individual indigenous forests, an Afromontane woodland whose common trees include Outeniqua and real yellowwood, stinkwood, ironwood, Cape holly, white pear, Cape beech, and Cape plane. Rain falls throughout the year, with maxima in early and late summer, and rainfall appears to be the primary factor limiting forest extent. The ecoregion shelters a remnant population of African bush elephants along with endemics such as the long-tailed forest shrew and the Knysna dwarf chameleon, and much of it is safeguarded within the Garden Route National Park and Cape Floral Region Protected Areas after a long history of timber exploitation. For gardeners, several of its signature natives, including the yellowwoods (Afrocarpus and Podocarpus) and Cape holly, are widely grown as ornamental and shade trees.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 34.0°S, 23.2°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-12a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-12b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.1°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
798 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
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 · 52
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.
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: