The Meghalaya subtropical forests cover the Garo, Khasi, Jaintia, and Mikir hills of Northeast India, centered on the state of Meghalaya, whose name means "abode of clouds." Forests shift with moisture and elevation: wetter slopes carry tree genera such as Bischofia, Mesua, Castanopsis, Pterospermum, and Acrocarpus, drier ground favors Dillenia, Terminalia, Tetrameles, and Schima, and higher hilltops grade into temperate stands of Lithocarpus, Castanopsis, and Quercus. Positioned to intercept monsoon winds off the Bay of Bengal, the region is among the wettest on Earth, with Mawsynram and Cherrapunji receiving up to eleven meters of rain a year amid persistent fog and mist. It is also a remarkably species-rich area and a center of diversity for the magnolia family, with the Khasi Hills alone supporting over 75 orchid genera and more than 260 orchid species. Gardeners may recognize native ornamental genera here, including Magnolia and Michelia alongside the wealth of native orchids.

At a glance

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.

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