The Chala or "Coast" is one of the eight natural regions in Peru. It is formed by all the western lands that arise from sea level up to the height of 500 meters. The coastal desert of Peru is largely devoid of vegetation but a unique fog and mist-fed ecosystem called Lomas is scattered among hills near the Pacific coast as elevations up to . In this region, the flora includes vegetation that grows near the rivers, like the

carob tree The carob ( ; ''Ceratonia siliqua'') is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the Caesalpinioideae sub-family of the legume family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible fruit pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens and landsca ...

, the palo verde, salty grama grass, manglar or mangrove tree, the carrizo or giant reed and the Caña brava (ditch reed); and plants that grow in the hills, such as the Amancay or Peruvian daffodil (''Hymenocallis amancaes''), the wild tomato, the mito or Peruvian papaya (''

Vasconcellea candicans ''Vasconcellea candicans'' is a small tree native to the western slopes of the Andes in southern Ecuador and Peru. Description Small dioecious shrub or tree to 8 m high. Leaves ovate or almost rounded, with a slightly cordate base, margin enti ...

''), and the

divi-divi ''Libidibia coriaria'', synonym ''Caesalpinia coriaria'', is a leguminous tree or large shrub native to the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and northern and western South America. Common names include divi-divi, cascalote, guaracabuya, ...

(''Cæsalpinia coriaria''). The coastal fauna of the Chala includes sea lions, the anchovy and several seabirds. Common trees in the north are the faique, the zapote, the zapayal, the '' barrigon'' and other thorny tropical savanna trees of the equatorial dry forests on the northern coast of

Piura Piura is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017. It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro fou ...

and Tumbes.

Páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...

and the northern coast of the Piura region are not under the influence of the cold

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low- salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pr ...

has a tree line at the border, even on the westside of the continental divide.Pulgar Vidal, Javier: Geografía del Perú; Las Ocho Regiones Naturales del Perú. Edit. Universo S.A., Lima 1979. First Edition (his dissertation of 1940): Las ocho regiones naturales del Perú, Boletín del Museo de historia natural „Javier Prado“, n° especial, Lima, 1941, 17, pp. 145-161.

Overview

Andean Continental Divide Mountain top: * Mountain passes - 4,100 m * Puna grassland * Andean-alpine desert *

Snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

- about 5,000 m *

Janca Janca is one of the eight Natural Regions of Peru (''Janq'u'' is Aymaran for “White”). It is located in the frozen heights where the condor lives. The fauna in this region is limited because of the very cold weather. The only plant that gr ...

- rocks, snow and ice * Peak

Loma-vegetation

Loma-vegetation, is found between and and it is situated at the first westside slope near the coast in Peru.Seibert, Paul (1996); Farbatlas Südamerika: Landschaften und Vegetation, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart, pp. 288. This subregion has a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

climate with little rainfall along the central and southern coast (drier as one goes south). The average year round day temperature is (max 33 °C, min 8 °C). Orientation: * Lomas, fog and mist-fed ecosystems on hills near the ocean and scattered along the nearly-rainless coastal desert. * Lomas de Lachay,

Huaral Province The Huaral Province is one of the nine provinces in the Lima Region of Peru. It was created by Law No. 21488 on May 11, 1976 by president Francisco Morales Bermúdez out of eight districts of the Canta Province and four of the Huaura Provinc ...

in Lima, a protected example of a mist-fed ecosystem.

Literature

{{peru-geo-stub Physiographic regions of Peru

Overview

Loma-vegetation

See also

Literature