Flora of Colombia

See also: Fauna of Colombia

The Flora of Colombia is characterized by a high biodiversity, with the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide. Over 130.000 species of plants have been described within Colombian territory^[1].

Flower of Victoria cruziana or Victoria regia inhabits in the Amazon basin.

National flower of Colombia

Cattleya trianae is the national flower of Colombia.

See also: Cattleya trianae

The national flower of Colombia is the orchid Cattleya trianae which was named after the Colombian naturalist José Jerónimo Triana. The orchid was selected by botanist Emilio Robledo, in representation of the Colombian Academy of History to determine the most representative flowering plant of Colombia. He described it as one of the most beautiful flowers in the world and selected Cattleya trianae as National symbol

National Tree of Colombia

Ceroxylon quindiuense is the national tree

See also: Ceroxylon quindiuense

The national tree of Colombia is the palm Ceroxylon quindiuense (Quindio Wax Palm) which was named after the Colombian Department of Quindio where is located the Cocora valley, only habitat of this restricted range specie. The Wax palm was selected as the national tree by the government of Belisario Betancur and was the first tree officially declared as protected specie in Colombia. C. quindiuense is the only palm that grows at high altitudes and is the tallest monocot in the world.

Endemisms

Colombia has the largest amount of heliconia species worldwide. Most of them are endemisms

The Baudó Mountains in the colombian pacific coast have many endemic plants.

Colombia has the largest amount of endemisms (species that are not found naturally anywhere else) worldwide. About 10% of the species in the world live in Colombia.^[2] Some determinant factors In the distribution range of the species are the weather conditions, temperature, humidity and sunlight availability.

Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct due to their restricted habitat and vulnerability to the actions of man, including the introduction of new organisms.

Ecoregions with high endemism

According to the colombian Ministry of Environment, the following ecoregions have the highest percentage of botanic endemisms:

Tree species

Many of the colombian trees are endangered species due to the high quality of the woods and timber industry explotation (such as Colombian oak Quercus humboldtidiana and colombian mahogany) and as source of tanning substances for the leather industry (such as mangrove and Encenillo tree Weinmannia tormentosa). Some tree species described in Colombia are:

Pekea-nut tree (Caryocar nuciferum)

Yopo tree (Anadenanthera peregrina)

Bear paw tree (Dendropanax colombianus)

Cyrilla racemiflora

Fruits of Colombia

Cherimoya (Annona cherimola)	Borojo tree fruit (Borojoa patinoi)	Chontaduro fruit (Bactris gasipaes)	Tomato tree or tamarillo (Solanum betaceum)
Mamoncillo (Melicoccus bijugatus)	Arazá or Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum)	Uchuva or Cape gooseberry fruit (Physalis edulis)	Guanabana or Soursop fruit (Annona muricata)
Marañon or Cashew (Anacardium occidentale)	Corozo or Mararay (Aiphanes aculeata)	Feijoa or Pineapple guava ( Acca sellowiana)	Guama or Ice-cream-bean (Inga edulis)
Lulo or Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense)	Curuba	Maypop (Passiflora incarnata)	Gulupa or purple passion fruit (Passiflora edulis)

Flora genera

Encenillo (Weinmannia tormentosa)

marmalade bush (Streptosolen jamesonii)

Fique plant field in Guarne

The Arrayan was sacred to the precolumbian people

Espeletia grandiflora in the paramo Arenal del Quindío

Espeletia schultzii

Espeletia pycnophylla

Passiflora tarminiana.

Velvety Passion Flower

Orange Passion Flower

Passiflora coccinea

Passiflora loefgrenii

Passiflora picturata

Passiflora subpeltata

Passiflora citrina

Macrocarpaea calophylla.

Macrocarpaea apparata.

Inírida flower Schoenocephalium teretifolium.

Abarema

Oenocarpus

Orphanodendron

Orphanodendron bernalii

Parmentiera

Parmentiera stenocarpa

Passiflora

Passiflora tarminiana

Pradosia cuatrecasasii

Romeroa verticillata

Schoenocephalium

Inírida flower

Solanum

Solanum sibundoyense
Solanum betaceum (tamarillo)

Sphaerolejeunea

Sphaerolejeunea umbilicata

Streptosolen

Streptosolen jamesonii

Vantanea magdalenensis

Wettinia

Xylosma

Xylosma obovatum

Zamia

Zygia

Zygia lehmannii

Orchid species

Colombia has the largest number of orchids in the world. Among others:

Restrepia antennifera	Restrepia aristulifera	Restrepia aspasicensium	Restrepia brachypus
Restrepia contorta	Restrepia cuprea	Restrepia dodsonii	Restrepia elegans
Restrepia falkenbergii	Restrepia flosculata	Restrepia guttulata	[Restrepia iris
Restrepia lansbergii	Restrepia muscifera	Restrepia nittiorhyncha	Restrepia pandurata
Restrepia roseola	Restrepia sanguinea	Restrepia teaguei	Restrepia trichoglossa
Restrepia wageneri	Masdevallia agaster	Masdevallia angulifera	Masdevallia barlaeana
Masdevallia bicolor	Masdevallia bulbophyllopsis	Masdevallia civilis	Masdevallia caudata
Masdevallia constricta	Masdevallia floribunda	Masdevallia fractiflexa	Masdevallia herradurae
Masdevallia ignea	Masdevallia mejiana	Masdevallia nidifica	Masdevallia rolfeana
Masdevallia striatella	Masdevallia tovarensis	Masdevallia triangularis	Masdevallia veitchiana
Masdevallia ventricularia	Masdevallia wageneriana	Masdevallia weberbaueri	Dracula chestertonii
Dracula cordobae	Dracula houtteana	Dracula lotax	Dracula sodiroi
Dracula vampira	Pleurothallis racemiflora	Pleurothallis tubata	Oncidium brunleesianum
Oncidium cebolleta	Oncidium croesus	Oncidium divaricatum	Oncidium ensatum
Oncidium flexuosum	Oncidium forbesii	Oncidium graminifolium	Oncidium harrisonianum
Oncidium incurvum	Oncidium klotzschianum	Oncidium longicornu	Oncidium longipes