FLORA

The Flora of Dominican Republic is very diverse in types and species. The flora of the country had been catalogued by several scientists like one of the richest of the Antilles with around 5,000 to 8,000 different species of plants, flowers and trees distributed between the endemics, the native of the island and the ones that had arrived from other parts of the world. Numerous species had been introduced during the Spaniard colonization era.

The Dominican Republic has an assorted variety of 300 kinds of orchids. Also has a particular variety of Palm trees. Some of the endemic species found are: pine (Pinus occidentalis), guano (Coccothrinax montana), Royal palm (Roystonea hispaniolana) and ‘catey o coco macaco’ palm (Bactris plumeriana).

Native species that can be found: corn, pineapple, guayacan, ceiba, mahogany tree, guayabo, guayiga, guanabana and tobacco.

Some of the flora introduced in the country is: mango, plantain, coffee, sugar cane, cacao, and banana. Also you can find in the country avocado, cashews, coconut, oranges and papaya.

In the vegetation section, the forests cover a huge portion of the territory and the most worked woods are pine, mahogany, cedar, bay leaf, guayacan and others.

FAUNA

The Dominican Republic and the Hispaniola Island is distinguished to be the island with most diverse species of the Antilles. The endemic fauna of the Hispaniola Island is mainly constituted by species that are exclusively located in territories of Haiti and Dominican Republic including its adjacent islands and cays.

Some birds that can be found in the country are: flamencos, guacayamo, heron, “cigua palmera”, swallows, nightingales, parrots and owls. Lots of migratory birds visit the island during certain seasons like doves and ducks.

The Jutia and Solenodon are the mammal’s native animals of the country which both are now endangered species. Other mammals of the Dominican fauna are: bats, huron, and manati.

There are no big wild animals, but a wide variety of lizards, alligators, not poisonous little snakes and a lot of insects.