Orchids of the Darien Gap

Descriptions of 270 orchid species. – The Darién Gap (Spanish: Tapón del Darién) is a large undeveloped swampland and forest forming part of a Tumbes – Chocó – Magdalena biodiversity hotspot which extends from the Panamanian Province of Darién through the Chocó region of western Colombia, along the west coast of Ecuador and dry forests of eastern Ecuador to the northwestern part of Peru. A branch of the hotspot extents east around the northern extent of the Colombian Western and Central Andean Cordilleras, through the Caribbean coast to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and south into the Cauca and Magdalena valleys. For the present study the northern limit of the Panamanian Darién Province of Panama was treated as the north border, the Caribbean coast from Zapzurro to Brazon Supiqui as the eastern limit, the Pacific coast as western border.

The southern boundary extends from Punta La Tortuguera on the Pacific shore to Bahia Colombia along the lowlands and uplands of the Colombian departments of Chocó and Antioquia. Serrania del Baudó is not included in this study.