Flora Of Guatemala

Type:

Book

Author:

Paul Carpenter Standley; Julián A. Steyermark

Published:

2020

Publisher:

Smithsonian Institution

The flora of Guatemala (Standley and Stey ermark '45, Smith 1889-1907) is the richest and most (lixersified of any in Central America for a variety of reasons. This is (itle not only to a combination of varied climatic, physiographic, and edaphic conditions, l)lt also to a long and (liverse geological hi story. Extremes range from lhot deserts. seashores, and lowlan(l rain forests to cool temperate oak-pine, fir, or ctupresstus forests, moist cloud forests, alpiiie meadows, and volcanic stummits; temnlperatures range from 16? F in the highlands to around 100? F in the Motagnta desert; altitudes vary between seale-el and 4,210 meters on the summit of Volcan (le Tajurnulco; rainfall from 6 inches to 200 inches annually, and varying from a dry season of half a year to almost (daily rains throughout the year; topographic features range through plains and everglade-like country, mountain lakes, sulfur fumaroles and springs, waterfalls, steep canyons, caves, clear spring-fed mountain streams to (lark browxln waters of lowland areas, an(l rocks varying from limestones and sandstones to marbles, serpentine, gneisses and mica-schists to granites, diorites, pumice, basalt, and volcanic ash (Griscom '32). The 14 major volcanoes are all of Pleistocene and Recent origin. The present limestone plains and hills of Peten in northern Guatemala resulted from the marine inundations of Tertiary times (Schuchert '35). But the most interesting parts of Guatemala are the old mountains of the sou…

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