The Western Guinean lowland forests form the westernmost block of tropical rainforest in Africa, stretching from eastern Guinea across Sierra Leone and Liberia to the Sassandra River in southwestern Côte d'Ivoire. The vegetation grades from moist evergreen forest in the wettest zones to moist semi-deciduous forest further inland, with closed canopy dominated by broadleaf evergreen trees such as Allanblackia, Coula, Strombosia, and Diospyros. This is one of the wettest parts of West Africa: seasonal rains average about 3,300 mm a year, and the Freetown Peninsula can exceed 5,000 mm, divided into a long rainy season and a drier interval. The forests are exceptionally diverse, supporting well over 3,000 plant species with at least 200 found nowhere else, including the endemic liana family Dioncophyllaceae, and they sit within Conservation International's Guinean Forests of West Africa biodiversity hotspot, with the white-necked rockfowl as a flagship species. Gardeners may recognize native genera such as Coula, whose African walnut yields an edible nut.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 7.0°N, 9.5°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: +3.3°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
Afrotropic
Approximate area
79,192 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
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.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: