The Orinoco Wetlands ecoregion lies in northeastern Venezuela, just north of the Orinoco River delta, where it forms seven separate patches of flooded grassland embedded in a matrix of mangroves, swamp forest, moist forest, and llanos savanna. Its core is tropical tall flooded grassland with few shrubs or trees, threaded with grasses and sedges such as Paspalum and Rhynchospora and dotted with palm stands including the moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa), acai (Euterpe oleracea), and Manicaria. The climate is tropical and consistently wet, with annual rainfall ranging between roughly 1,000 and 2,000 millimeters and warm temperatures year-round. The wetlands support notable threatened wildlife, including the giant otter, the Orinoco crocodile, jaguar, and harpy eagle, though oil extraction and dam construction pose growing pressures. For gardeners drawn to tropical, water-loving plantings, this is home country to ornamental palms such as the fan-leaved moriche palm and the clumping acai.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 9.4°N, 62.5°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.0°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
Flooded Grasslands & Savannas
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
2,321 sq mi
Conservation tier
Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 1)
About the flooded grasslands & savannas biome
Grasslands and savannas subject to seasonal or year-round flooding, including large wetland complexes. Exceptionally productive, they concentrate waterbirds and aquatic life.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
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
Other flooded grasslands & savannas ecoregions to explore: