The Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests cloak the upper slopes of Mount Cameroon on the Cameroonian mainland and the volcanic peaks of Bioko island in Equatorial Guinea, both part of the Cameroon Volcanic Line where it meets the Gulf of Guinea. Above the lowland rainforest, montane forest dominated by trees such as Schefflera abyssinica, Prunus africana, and Nuxia congesta grades upward into montane scrub, grasslands, heathlands, and subalpine communities of Afromontane character. The southwestern slopes are wet almost year-round, with rainfall reaching around 10,000 millimeters annually at lower altitudes and declining sharply toward the cooler summit. The forests are botanically rich, with at least 42 strictly endemic and roughly 50 near-endemic plant species on Mount Cameroon, alongside more than 370 recorded bird species including endemics like the Mount Cameroon francolin and Mount Cameroon speirops, and are partly safeguarded by Mount Cameroon National Park and Bioko's Pico Basile National Park and Luba Crater Scientific Reserve. Among the native trees, Prunus africana (African cherry) is widely valued in cultivation and traditional medicine.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 4.2°N, 9.2°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-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
Afrotropic
Approximate area
442 sq mi
Conservation tier
Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 1)
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.
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: