Sulawesi montane rain forests
RESOLVE 157
The Sulawesi montane rain forests cover the highlands of Sulawesi in Indonesia, spanning the provinces of Central, North, South, Southeast, and West Sulawesi along with Gorontalo, and forming part of the Wallacea region within the Australasian realm. Above roughly 1,000 meters the forest grades from lower montane stands of Fagaceae oaks such as Lithocarpus and Castanopsis, mixed with Myrtaceae, Lauraceae, and Theaceae, into cooler upper-montane and mossy forest where conifers including Agathis, Podocarpus, Dacrycarpus, and Dacrydium become prominent, giving way to subalpine scrub on the highest peaks like Mount Latimojong. The ecoregion has a wet tropical montane climate, with cool, mist-soaked highland forests. Because Sulawesi was never joined to the Asian or Australian mainlands, it harbors exceptional endemism: many of the island's strictly endemic birds are confined to these montane forests, and roughly a fifth of the trees are found nowhere else, alongside endemic mammals such as the babirusa and dwarf anoa. For gardeners, the upper forests are a natural home to ornamental genera including Rhododendron, Vaccinium, Gaultheria, and the ginger relative Alpinia.
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
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.