Central America is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Central America consists of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage.
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level, formally described in the International Cloud Atlas (2017) as silvagenitus. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their species dynamics, and environmental conditions". For example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, and the North American Great Lakes get none.
Drimys is a genus of about eight species of woody evergreen flowering plants, in the family Winteraceae. The species are native to the Neotropics, ranging from southern Mexico to the southern tip of South America. They are primitive dicots, associated with the humid temperate Antarctic flora of the Southern Hemisphere, which evolved millions of years ago on the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Members of the family generally have aromatic bark and leaves, and some are used to extract essential oils.
Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and elongated leaves, known as "laurophyll" or "lauroid". Plants from the laurel family (Lauraceae) may or may not be present, depending on the location.
In soil classification, an Umbrisol is a soil with a dark topsoil and in which organic matter has accumulated within the mineral surface soil—in most cases with low base saturation—to the extent that it significantly affects the behaviour and utilization of the soil. Umbrisols are the counterpart of comparable soils with a high base saturation.
Anredera is a genus of plants native to Latin America, the West Indies, Texas, and Florida. Some are naturalized in other regions. Most of them evergreen vines of dry scrubland and thickets. Members of the genus are commonly known as Madeira vines. At least one species, A. cordifolia bears edible roots or tubers and leaves similar to those of Basella alba.
Clethra is a genus of flowering shrubs or small trees described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.
Weinmannia is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Cunoniaceae. It is the largest genus of the family with about 150 species. It is also the most widespread genus, occurring in Central and South America including the Caribbean, Madagascar and surrounding islands, Malesia and the islands of the South Pacific. It is absent from mainland Africa and Australia, but some fossils have been attributed to Weinmannia in Australia. Leaves are simple or pinnate, with a margin usually toothed, and interpetiolar stipules. Flowers are bisexual, white, arranged in racemes. The fruit is a capsule opening vertically from the top to the base. Seeds hairy without wings.
The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America.
Guzmania lingulata, the droophead tufted airplant or scarlet star, is a species of flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Tillandsioideae. This evergreen epiphytic perennial is native to rainforest habitats in Central America, northern and central South America and southern Mexico. The Latin word lingulata means "tongue-shaped". The foliage grows in a star-shaped basal rosette culminating in an orange and red bracted inflorescence. It is among the most commonly cultivated bromeliad types, with cultivars producing flowers in shades of maroon, red, orange, yellow or pink.
Retrophyllum rospigliosii is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a large evergreen tree native to the montane rainforests of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia in South America.
Citharexylum is a genus of flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. It contains shrub and tree species commonly known as fiddlewoods or zitherwoods. They are native to the Americas, ranging from southern Florida and Texas in the United States to Argentina. The highest diversity occurs in Mexico and the Andes. The generic name is derived from the Greek words κιθάρα (kithara), meaning "lyre", and ξύλον (xylon), meaning "wood," referring to the use of the wood in the sounding boards of string instruments. Several species, especially C. caudatum and C. spinosum, are cultivated as ornamentals.
- Citharexylum affineD.Don - from northern Mexico to Nicaragua
- Citharexylum alainiiMoldenke - Dominican Republic
- Citharexylum albicauleTurcz. - Cuba
- Citharexylum altamiranumGreenm. - northeastern Mexico
- Citharexylum andinumMoldenke - Bolivia, Jujuy Province of Argentina
- Citharexylum argutedentatumMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum berlandieriB.L. Rob. - from Texas to Oaxaca - Berlandier's fiddlewood, Tamaulipan fiddlewood
- Citharexylum bourgeauanumGreenm. - Veracruz, Oaxaca
- Citharexylum brachyanthum(A.Gray ex Hemsl.) A.Gray - Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo León - Boxthorn fiddlewood, Mexican fiddlewood
- Citharexylum bullatumMoldenke - Colombia
- Citharexylum calvumMoldenke - Quintana Roo
- Citharexylum caudatumL. - southern Mexico, West Indies, Central America, Colombia, Peru - Juniper berry
- Citharexylum chartaceumMoldenke - Peru, Ecuador
- Citharexylum cooperiStandl. - Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala
- Citharexylum costaricenseMoldenke - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras
- Citharexylum crassifoliumGreenm - Chiapas, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras
- Citharexylum daniraeLeón de la Luz & F.Chiang - Revillagigedo Islands of Baja California
- Citharexylum decorumMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum dentatumD.Don - Peru
- Citharexylum discolorTurcz. - Cuba, Hispaniola
- Citharexylum donnell-smithiiGreenm. - Oaxaca, Chiapas, Central America
- Citharexylum dryanderaeMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador
- Citharexylum ekmaniiMoldenke - Cuba
- Citharexylum ellipticumMoc. & Sessé ex D.Don - Veracruz, Campeche, Tabasco; naturalized in Cuba + Cayman Islands
- Citharexylum endlichiiMoldenke - northeastern Mexico
- Citharexylum flabellifoliumS.Watson - Sonora, Baja California
- Citharexylum flexuosum(Ruiz & Pav.) D.Don - Bolivia, Peru
- Citharexylum fulgidumMoldenke - Veracruz, northeastern Mexico
- Citharexylum gentryiMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum glabrum(S.Watson) Greenm - Oaxaca
- Citharexylum glazioviiMoldenke - eastern Brazil
- Citharexylum grandiflorumAymard & Rueda - Ecuador
- Citharexylum guatemalense(Moldenke) D.N.Gibson - Guatemala, Nicaragua
- Citharexylum herreraeMansf. - Peru
- Citharexylum hexangulareGreenm. - from northern Mexico to Costa Rica
- Citharexylum hidalgenseMoldenke - Mexico
- Citharexylum hintoniiMoldenke - México State
- Citharexylum hirtellumStandl. - from Veracruz to Panama
- Citharexylum ilicifoliumKunth - Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador
- Citharexylum iltisiiMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum × jamaicenseMoldenke - Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico (C. caudatum × C. spinosum)
- Citharexylum joergensenii(Lillo) Moldenke - Argentina, Bolivia
- Citharexylum karsteniiMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum kerberiGreenm. - Veracruz
- Citharexylum kobuskianumMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum krukoviiMoldenke - eastern Brazil
- Citharexylum kunthianumMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador
- Citharexylum laetumHiern - southern Brazil
- Citharexylum laurifoliumHayek - Bolivia, Peru
- Citharexylum lemsiiMoldenke - Guanacaste Province in Costa Rica
- Citharexylum × leonisMoldenke - Cuba (C. caudatum × C. tristachyum)
- Citharexylum ligustrifolium(Thur. ex Decne.) Van Houtte - Mexico
- Citharexylum lojenseMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum lucidumCham. & Schltdl. - Mexico
- Citharexylum lycioidesD.Don - Mexico
- Citharexylum macradeniumGreenm. - Panama, Costa Rica
- Citharexylum macrochlamysPittier - Panama, Colombia
- Citharexylum macrophyllumPoir. - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guianas, northwestern Brazil
- Citharexylum matheanumBorhidi & Kereszty - Cuba
- Citharexylum matudaeMoldenke - Chiapas
- Citharexylum mexicanumMoldenke - Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca
- Citharexylum microphyllum(DC.) O.E.Schulz - Hisipaniola
- Citharexylum mirifoliumMoldenke - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum mocinoiD.Don - Mexico, Central America
- Citharexylum montanumMoldenke - Colombia, Ecuador
- Citharexylum montevidense(Spreng.) Moldenke - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
- Citharexylum myrianthumCham. - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay
- Citharexylum obtusifoliumKuhlm - Espírito Santo
- Citharexylum oleinum Moldenke - Mexico
- Citharexylum ovatifoliumGreenm. - Mexico
- Citharexylum pachyphyllumMoldenke - Peru
- Citharexylum pernambucenseMoldenke - eastern Brazil
- Citharexylum poeppigiiWalp. - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil
- Citharexylum punctatumGreenm. - Bolivia, Peru
- Citharexylum quercifoliumHayek - Peru
- Citharexylum quitenseSpreng. - Ecuador
- Citharexylum racemosumSessé & Moc. - Mexico
- Citharexylum reticulatumKunth - Ecuador, Peru
- Citharexylum rigidum(Briq.) Moldenke - Paraguay, southern Brazil
- Citharexylum rimbachiiMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum roseiGreenm. - Mexico
- Citharexylum roxanaeMoldenke - Baja California
- Citharexylum scabrumMoc. & Sessé ex D.Don - northern Mexico
- Citharexylum schottiiGreenm. - southern Mexico, Central America
- Citharexylum schulziiUrb. & Ekman - Hispaniola
- Citharexylum sessaeiD.Don - Mexico
- Citharexylum shreveiMoldenke - Sonora
- Citharexylum solanaceumCham. - southern Brazil
- Citharexylum spinosumL. – Spiny fiddlewood - West Indies, Panama, Venezuela, the Guianas; naturalized in India, Mozambique, Fiji, Bermuda
- Citharexylum stenophyllumUrb. & Ekman - Haiti
- Citharexylum steyermarkiiMoldenke - Veracruz, Chiapas, Guatemala
- Citharexylum suberosumLoes. ex Moldenke - Cuba
- Citharexylum subflavescensS.F.Blake - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru
- Citharexylum subthyrsoideumPittier - Colombia, Venezuela
- Citharexylum subtruncatumMoldenke - northwestern Brazil
- Citharexylum sulcatumMoldenke - Colombia
- Citharexylum svensoniiMoldenke - Ecuador
- Citharexylum teclenseStandl. - El Salvador
- Citharexylum ternatumMoldenke - Cuba
- Citharexylum tetramerumBrandegee - Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán in Mexico
- Citharexylum tristachyumTurcz. – Threespike Fiddlewood - Cuba, Jamaica, Leeward Islands
- Citharexylum uleiMoldenke - Colombia, Peru, northwestern Brazil
- Citharexylum vallenseMoldenke - Colombia
- Citharexylum venezuelenseMoldenke - Venezuela
- Citharexylum weberbaueriHayek - Peru
Quercus oocarpa is a Mesoamerican species of oak.
The Northwestern Andean montane forests (NT0145) is an ecoregion on the Andes mountains in the west of Colombia and Ecuador. Both flora and fauna are highly diverse due to effect of ice ages when the warmer climate zones were separated and the cooler ones combined, and interglacial periods when the reverse occurred. Because the environment is hospitable to humans, the habitat has been drastically modified by farming and grazing since the Pre-Columbian era.
The Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests (NT0121) is an ecoregion in the eastern range of the Andes of southern Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru. The ecoregion covers the eastern slopes of the Andes, and includes montane forest that rises from the Amazonian rain forest, with cloud forest and elfin forest at higher elevations. It is rich in species, including many endemics. It is threatened by logging and conversion for pasturage and subsistence agriculture.
Quercus cortesii is a species of oak native to Central America and southern Mexico.
Drimys roraimensis is a broadleaf evergreen tree of family Winteraceae. it is native to the tepuis, flat-topped mountains in southern Venezuela and western Guyana.
Drimys brasiliensis is a broadleaf evergreen tree of family Winteraceae. it is native to Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil, western Paraguay, and northwestern Argentina, and to Bolivia.
