The Northern Vietnam lowland rain forests stretch along the central-eastern coast of Vietnam, from the Red River delta south to Tam Kỳ, reaching into adjacent parts of Laos, much of it over limestone (karst) hills and valleys. This is wet evergreen forest with a dense, three-tiered canopy rising 25 to 35 meters and emergents to 45 meters, dominated by trees of the Hopea genus along with Castanopsis hystrix and Madhuca pasquieri. The climate is tropical and monsoonal, with high temperatures, rain in every month, and precipitation peaking in September and October that increases southward from around Hanoi toward Huế. Once-extensive primary forest now survives mainly in scattered patches, yet protected areas such as Cúc Phương National Park, Vietnam's oldest and largest nature reserve, and Pu Mat shelter rare primates including the critically endangered northern white-cheeked gibbon and red-shanked douc. For gardeners, the native sub-canopy fan palm Livistona saribus, sometimes called the Taraw palm, is a notable ornamental from this region.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 18.9°N, 105.3°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
8,724 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: