The Myanmar coastal rain forests stretch along Myanmar's coastal lowlands beside the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, from the Rakhine coast through the lower Irrawaddy and Sittaung basins, with a small extension north into Bangladesh, hemmed to the east by the Arakan Yoma and Tenasserim mountain ranges. These lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen forests are dominated by the dipterocarp family, with characteristic tall trees in genera such as Dipterocarpus, Anisoptera, Hopea, and Parashorea, alongside Lagerstroemia and Swintonia. The climate is humid and tropical, shaped by a strong Southwest monsoon that carries moisture-laden air off the Bay of Bengal and concentrates heavy rainfall in the summer months. The ecoregion supports more than 350 bird species and large mammals including tigers, Asian elephants, Malayan tapirs, and clouded leopards, with the Asian golden cat as a flagship species, though hunting drove the region's rhinoceros to extinction by 1984. For gardeners, the native flora includes Lagerstroemia, the crape myrtle genus widely grown as a flowering ornamental tree.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 17.5°N, 96.2°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-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: +3.1°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
Indomalayan
Approximate area
25,711 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 · 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: