Central American flora
Central American flora is characterized by its rich biodiversity and distinct ecological zones, influenced by varying climates and altitudes across the region. The eastern half of Central America is home to tropical rainforests, featuring towering evergreen trees that create a dense canopy, beneath which a variety of shade-loving plants thrive, including palms, ferns, and orchids. Epiphytes, such as bromeliads, grow on tree branches, deriving nutrients from the air without rooting in the soil. Commercially valuable hardwoods like mahogany and cedarwood are harvested from these forests, alongside fruit-bearing trees like breadfruit and cashew.
In contrast, the Caribbean lowlands exhibit a landscape of savanna grasslands with scattered pine and oak forests, while mangroves and coconut palms are prevalent along the coast. The central highlands present a cooler climate, supporting deciduous hardwood trees and unique "cloud forests" at higher elevations, characterized by rich undergrowth. The flora varies significantly based on the region’s moisture levels, with the western slopes receiving less rainfall and featuring more sparse, semiarid vegetation. Overall, Central America's flora presents a diverse array of plants that are adapted to the region's varying ecosystems, contributing to its ecological importance and richness.
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Central American flora
Category: World regions
Lowlands
Tropical rain forests lie on the eastern half of Central America and typically have many tall, broad-leaved evergreen trees 130 feet (40 meters) or more in height, and 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 meters) in diameter that form a dense canopy. Shade-seeking plants, such as palms, figs, ferns, vines, philodendrons, and orchids, form the forest undergrowth beneath the trees.
Epiphytes, such as orchids, ferns, bromeliads, and mosses, cling to the branches of the trees in a dense mat of vegetation—these plants have no roots but grow by clinging to the trunks of trees and drawing moisture and nourishment from the air. Rain-forest trees that are harvested for their commercial value include mahogany, kapok, cedarwood, tagua, ebony, and rosewood for making furniture; breadfruit, palm, and cashew; sapodilla, used to make latex; and the rubber tree. Many brilliantly colored flowers also grow in Central America. The most common of these are orchids (with close to a thousand species), heliconias, hibiscus, and bromeliads.
In the Caribbean lowlands, where the soil is porous and dry, extensive savanna grasslands with sparse forests of pines, palmettos, guanacastes, cedars, and oaks are found. Along the Caribbean coast (called the Mosquito Coast), mangroves and coconut palms flourish in swamps and lagoons.
Highlands
The central mountains and highlands of Central America are cooler than the coastal lowlands, and the vegetation there is mainly deciduous hardwood trees such as walnut, pine, and oak. The eastern slopes of the mountains have abundant rainfall. “Cloud forests” that are 5,000 feet (1,525 meters) above sea level are thick with evergreen oak, sweet gum, pine, and laurel, which grow to a height of about 65 feet (20 meters) and are festooned with ferns, bromeliads, mosses, and orchids.
On the western side of the mountains, facing away from the moist Caribbean winds and receiving rain only seasonally, vegetation is sparse and semiarid, and soils are poor and unproductive. Deciduous tropical forests dominate there, and vegetation is characterized by evergreen herbs and shrubs, plumeria (frangipani), eupatorium pines, myrtles, and sphagnum mosses.
Bibliography
Beletsky, Les. Belize and Northern Guatemala: The Eco-Traveller’s Wildlife Guide. San Diego: Academic Press, 1999. An encyclopedic introduction to Central America’s flora and fauna and a primer on the principles of ecotourism.
Kricher, John, William E. Davis, and Mark J. Plotkin. A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, and Ecosystems of the New World Tropics. 2d ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. Covers a wide variety of topics, including rain forests, regeneration, ecological succession, evolutionary theory, and tropical medicinal plants.
Parker, Edward. Central America. Austin, Tex.: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1999. A survey, with clear color photographs on every page. Includes historical time line.