The Magdalena Valley dry forests form a dry inter-Andean pocket in Colombia, running along the upper Magdalena River, the country's largest, where it flows north between the Central and Eastern cordilleras of the Andes at roughly 450 meters elevation. The vegetation is thorny and drought-adapted, dominated by cacti alongside low woody trees such as palo verde, sweet acacia, and mesquite (Prosopis), together with the endangered Colombian endemic Bulnesia carrapo. The climate is markedly arid for the tropics, with much of the valley receiving less than 1,000 millimeters of rain a year. Despite high endemism, the ecoregion is heavily threatened: most original forest has been cleared for agriculture and grazing, and it falls within no national park, leaving it among Colombia's most imperiled habitats. For gardeners, the transition between these dry forests and adjacent moister woodlands is home to the May flower (Cattleya trianae), Colombia's national flower and a prized ornamental orchid native to the region.

At a glance

About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome

Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.

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.

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