The Magdalena Valley montane forests blanket the higher slopes on both sides of the Magdalena River valley in central Colombia, climbing the inner faces of the Central and Eastern cordilleras of the Northern Andes. These are humid Andean cloud forests, with distinct belts forming around 1,800 to 2,200 meters and again near 2,800 to 3,200 meters, where characteristic trees include Andean oak (Quercus humboldtii), Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata), Colombian walnut (Juglans neotropica), and stately wax palms (Ceroxylon). The climate is seasonally wet, with two rainy seasons running roughly April to June and October to December. WWF rates the ecoregion as Critical/Endangered, as coffee growing and farming have cleared much of the original forest and more than 70 percent of Colombia's population lives within or near it; the Andean (spectacled) bear serves as its flagship species. For gardeners, the region is also a stronghold of endemic orchids, including Cattleya trianae, the Christmas orchid and Colombia's national flower.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 5.5°N, 74.5°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.3°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
Neotropic
Approximate area
40,572 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
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 · 4
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.
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
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: