Puerto Rican dry forests
RESOLVE 543
The Puerto Rican dry forests stretch along the south-central and southwestern coast of Puerto Rico and across the adjacent islands of Mona, Vieques, Culebra, Desecheo, and Caja de Muertos, occupying the island's drier rain-shadowed lowlands. The forest is built from short, often multi-stemmed trees, with the flora dominated by the families Rubiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Myrtaceae and characteristic species such as roughbark and holywood lignum-vitae (Guaiacum), the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra), and white frangipani (Plumeria alba). The climate is seasonally dry, with a single rainy season, modest annual rainfall of roughly 600 to 1,000 millimeters, and warm temperatures near 31 degrees Celsius in summer and about 21 degrees in winter. Plants here cope with the drought through deciduous leaves, waxy coatings, and water-storage tissues. Though globally threatened by clearing, fire, and introduced animals, the ecoregion remains a stronghold of endemism, harboring the Mona ground iguana, the endangered Puerto Rican nightjar, and several endemic anole lizards, with its best-preserved tract protected in the Guanica Commonwealth Forest and Biosphere Reserve. For gardeners in hot, dry climates, native ornamentals like Plumeria and Ceiba show how this flora pairs drought tolerance with striking form.
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
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.