Cordillera Central páramo

The Central Andean dry puna spans the high Altiplano of the southern Andes across Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, occupying the arid zone between the tree line and the permanent snow line east of the Atacama Desert. Its vegetation is mostly high-elevation grassland dominated by bunchgrasses of the genera Stipa and Festuca, with dry shrublands lower down and scattered Polylepis woodlands at higher elevations; this includes Polylepis tarapacana, the woody plant that grows at the highest elevations in the world. The climate is dry and cold, ranging from cold steppe to cold desert and receiving less than 400 millimeters of rainfall annually, and the landscape is studded with volcanoes and vast salt flats such as Uyuni, Coipasa, and Atacama. Wild camelids including the vicuna roam the puna, the endangered Andean cat is the flagship species, and the region's saline lakes and bofedal wetlands support Andean, James's, and Chilean flamingos. Cushion-forming alpine genera such as Werneria and Nototriche, along with hardy high-altitude Senecio shrubs, are among the cold-adapted plants native here.

The Central Andean puna is a high-elevation montane grassland and shrubland ecoregion of the southern Andes, stretching from southern Peru through Bolivia into northern Chile and Argentina, generally between about 3,200 and 6,600 meters above sea level. Its landscape of open meadows, plateaus, high lakes, and snow-capped peaks is dominated by tussock or bunchgrass grasslands built from genera such as Calamagrostis, Agrostis, and Festuca, dotted with herbs, moss, and lichen, and accented by Polylepis (queñoa) woodland, Azorella cushion plants, and the giant bromeliad Puya raimondii. The climate is cold and semi-arid, with annual temperatures ranging from below freezing to about 15 degrees Celsius and yearly rainfall of roughly 250 to 500 millimeters. The region remains an important refuge for hardy Andean wildlife, including the vicuna, guanaco, chinchilla, and its flagship bird, Darwin's rhea, though habitat is increasingly pressured by grazing, burning, mining, and agriculture. For gardeners drawn to rugged high-altitude flora, the puna is the native home of the dramatic Puya raimondii, prized for producing one of the tallest flower spikes in the plant world.

The Central Andean wet puna stretches across the high Andes of Peru and eastern Bolivia, blanketing plateaus, glacial valleys, and lake basins generally above 3,500 metres in elevation. Its dominant cover is high-elevation montane grassland woven from bunchgrass genera such as Festuca, Calamagrostis, Stipa, Agrostis, and Paspalum, interspersed with gnarled Polylepis woodlands, the giant rosette bromeliad Puya raimondii, and waterlogged cushion-plant bogs (bofedales) of species like Distichia muscoides. The climate is cold and seasonally wet, with nightly freezes year-round in the upper zones and a rainy season that lengthens from roughly two months in the south to about eight months in the north. All four South American camelids occur here (vicuna, llama, guanaco, and alpaca) alongside puma and Andean fox, and the ecoregion harbors many endemic birds, including the critically endangered royal cinclodes, which depends on the dwindling Polylepis forests now threatened by grazing, burning, and mining. For high, cold gardens the puna offers hardy native ornamentals, from the dramatic Puya to cool-season tussock grasses such as Festuca, Calamagrostis, and Stipa.

The Cordillera de Mérida páramo is a high-altitude grassland and shrubland ecoregion in western Venezuela, occupying isolated patches above the treeline within the Cordillera de Mérida massif, south of Lake Maracaibo. Its dry páramo is defined by the spectacular giant rosettes of Espeletia (frailejones), alongside tussock grasses, dwarf bamboo, cushion plants, and lichens, with Polylepis woodlands forming an important transition at lower elevations. The climate is alpine tundra, with no month averaging above 10 degrees Celsius, a pronounced dry season, and regular snowfall on the highest peaks. Long isolation has produced high local endemism, especially on the more remote summits, while the endangered spectacled bear and mountain tapir range through its lower portions; the World Wildlife Fund rates the ecoregion as relatively stable and intact, with protected areas including Sierra Nevada and Sierra La Culata National Parks. For gardeners, it is the native home of cold-hardy high-mountain genera such as Espeletia and the Andean rose-relative Polylepis.

The High Monte is a montane shrubland ecoregion confined to Argentina, running along the eastern slopes of the Andes from the vicinity of Salta south to Mendoza, set between the Sierras Pampeanas and the main Andean ridge and bounded by the arid Puna to the north and the Chaco and Espinal woodlands to the east. Its characteristic cover is evergreen scrubland dominated by Larrea shrubs (the jarillas, or creosote bushes), with open algarrobo woodland of Prosopis alba and Prosopis nigra where groundwater is reachable, alongside genera such as Bulnesia and Bougainvillea and an abundance of cacti and bromeliads in the north. The climate is temperate and arid to semi-arid, with sparse rainfall that falls mainly in the austral summer when the South American monsoon pushes moist air across the region. Sitting in the Andean rain shadow, it shelters notable endemics and a flagship southern mountain cavy, and its burrowing parrots act as important dispersers of algarrobo seeds. For gardeners in dry, hot-summer climates, the ecoregion is the native home of drought-hardy ornamental and shade genera including Prosopis, Larrea, and Bougainvillea.

The Northern Andean páramo is a band of high-altitude grasslands that lie above the tree line and below the snow line in the equatorial Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, generally between about 3,000 and 5,000 meters. Its vegetation is a distinctive mix of tussock or bunch grasses such as Calamagrostis and Festuca, giant rosette plants of the genus Espeletia (the frailejones), low cushion plants, and shrubs of the heath family (Ericaceae). The climate is cold, humid, and cloud-bound, with moisture arriving as rain, fog, and low cloud; annual rainfall ranges roughly from 500 to 3,000 millimeters, and temperatures can fall below freezing at night yet climb toward 30°C by day. Plant endemism is very high, and the páramo serves as habitat for threatened animals including the mountain tapir and the spectacled bear, though burning, overgrazing, and road building remain ongoing pressures. For gardeners, the showy frailejón rosettes (Espeletia) and the many native heaths reflect the cool, perpetually moist conditions this ecoregion demands.