NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



603 



American republic except Haiti and 

 nearly all the arable land, at least in 

 the more productive regions, is under 

 cultivation, so that at middle and high 

 altitudes it is difficult to find localities 

 in which primitive conditions prevail. 

 The principal agricultural product is 

 coffee, and since coffee requires trees 

 for its shade, conditions for animal life 

 are more favorable than might be ex- 

 pected, but they are less satisfactory 

 as regards vegetation. 



Broad-leaved forests originally existed 

 over probably the whole country but 

 they are now restricted to the less 

 accessible regions and to those unsuited 

 for agriculture. Eastern Salvador, 

 beyond the Rio Lempa, is still mostly 

 in its original state, with heavy monsoon 

 forest along the coast and with thickets 

 and thin forest toward the interior 

 (savanna), interspersed with limited 

 areas of grassland or scrub. The same 

 conditions prevail throughout a narrow 

 belt which extends along the coast and 

 in western Salvador extends inland to 

 the city of Sonsonate, and well up the 

 Rio Paz along the Guatemalan frontier. 

 This region is one of low altitude, 1000 

 ft. or often much less. 



At middle elevations the greater part 

 of the forest has disappeared and the 

 land is mostly under cultivation. On 

 all the higher volcanoes there is a dense 

 montane forest, with thick undergrowth 

 and many epiphytes, indicating that 

 the rainfall is heavier here than else- 

 where. Much of this forest has been 

 cut away to make room for coffee planta- 

 tions, but there are still large areas left 

 in the Sierra de Apaneca (in the depart- 

 ments of Ahuachap^n and Santa Ana) 

 and upon some of the isolated peaks, 

 such as the Volcano of San Vicente. 

 All these natural forested areas are 

 likely to disappear within the next 25 

 >ears, or in even less time. 



The vegetation is everywhere tropical 

 and greatly varied, no one species of 

 plant being specially abundant, as a 

 rule. In general appearance the plants 

 are not strikingly different from those 



of certain parts of temperate North 

 America. Except for the coconut palm, 

 plants of this family are not numerou? 

 as to either species or individuals. The 

 most striking and distinctive tree is 

 probably the guarumo (Cecropia mexi- 

 cana), but certain others such as the 

 madre de cacao (Gliricidia sepium), 

 maquiligua (Tabebuia pentaphylla), and 

 palo mulato (Triplaris americana) are 

 both conspicuous and abundant. Coni- 

 ferous forests are of only slight extent 

 but there is a small one near Santa Ana 

 and larger areas on the mountains along 

 the Honduran frontier. They are 

 formed by a single species of pine, in- 

 dividuals of which are found in small 

 numbers upon several of the higher 

 volcanoes. The pine forests near Santa 

 Ana consist of widely spaced trees with 

 much undergrowth of shrubs and a thick 

 growth of coarse grasses and other 

 herbaceous plants. 



Grassland is of frequent occurrence, 

 particularly in the central departments, 

 and in some parts of the western ones. 

 Near Ahuachap&n there is an especially 

 interesting savanna covered almost ex- 

 clusively with a close sward of a single 

 species of grass, an area quite unlike 

 anything found elsewhere in the coun- 

 try; and on the lower slopes of the vol- 

 canoes there are often wide meadows, 

 used for pasture but probably of spon- 

 taneous origin. The number of species 

 of grasses is perhaps greater here than 

 in any other Central American area of 

 the same size. 



There are several localities in which 

 desert conditions are approached, chiefly 

 because of the nature of the under- 

 lying soil. Deserving of mention are 

 several lava flows of known date which 

 are extremely arid but covered with 

 sparse vegetation. A detailed study 

 of them would probably prove to be of 

 great interest. Most of the coastal 

 region is essentially arid, and in some 

 portions, such as the vicinity of Acajutla 

 and the valley of the Rio Paz, the plant 

 covering is markedly sparse. Cacti 

 are few in both species and individuals, 



