The Patía valley dry forests form a small, arid pocket in southwestern Colombia, following the Patía River through a basin walled in by the cloud forests of the Central and Western cordilleras and reaching south toward the Ecuadorian border. Despite sitting amid the wet Andes, the valley is markedly seasonal and dry, with a mean elevation of roughly 600 to 900 meters and less than 900 mm of rain a year falling in two wet spells, around April to June and again in October to November. Characteristic vegetation includes the calabash tree (Crescentia cujete), guacima (Guazuma ulmifolia), golden shower (Cassia fistula), palo santo (Bursera graveolens) and kapok, alongside drought-adapted plants such as the cactus Pilosocereus colombianus and prickly pears. The ecoregion belongs to the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena biodiversity hotspot and is rated Critical/Endangered by the World Wildlife Fund, its original forest almost entirely cleared by ranching and burning, though it still shelters endemic bird subspecies and the flagship steely-vented hummingbird. For gardeners, its native flora leans ornamental and resilient, from the showy orchid Schomburgkia splendida that perches on rock outcrops to the bright-flowered golden shower tree.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 1.9°N, 77.2°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11b-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
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
877 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome
Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.
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 · 52
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 dry broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: