The Sri Lanka montane rain forests cover the island's central highlands above roughly 1,000 metres, including the Knuckles range, the peaks of Pidurutalagala and Adam's Peak, and the high Horton Plains, isolated since the island detached from the Indian mainland around the end of the Miocene. Sub-montane stands are dominated by tall Shorea, Calophyllum, and Syzygium, while the higher cloud forests carry moss-draped, often endemic Rhododendron, giant tree ferns in the genus Cyathea, and an understory of Strobilanthes, with stunted trees typically only about 10 to 15 metres tall and interspersed montane grasslands locally called pathanas. The climate is cool and very wet, fed by monsoon rains concentrated from May to September alongside frequent fog and mist, and ground frost can settle on the highest ground on December-to-February mornings despite the tropical latitude. Considered a super-hotspot of endemism, the ecoregion shelters about half of Sri Lanka's endemic flowering plants and more than half of its endemic vertebrates, yet much of the original forest has been cleared for tea plantations, leaving it critically threatened. For gardeners, the native Rhododendron of these cloud forests is among the region's familiar ornamental lineages.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 6.9°N, 80.8°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-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: +3.2°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
1,188 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
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: