Coastal Forest

A coastal forest on the Dominican Republic’s Southeastern coast; at sea level.

The coastal forest where Lidia grew up is now part of a national park. Its floor is primarily limestone bedrock, and there is a very thin layer of red top soil and sand. In between cactus, “judío” and “buena madre” are cenotes that provide water for the entire village and all of the resorts in the neighboring area. She points out the “almáciga” tree. Its wood is used to start fires, but in the 1980s, she said that it was the tree that was used to make boats to escape to Puerto Rico. The authorities stopped the practice, and now they call the tree “gringo,” because of its red peeling skin – a reference, she said, to the all- consuming tourist industry which both protects the plant life of the area, while consuming enormous amounts of water, and limiting her community’s access, too.

Plant Guide for Padre Nuestro

The spiny Rosa de Bayahibe and its many green, vibrant leaves sit atop a groundcover of dead leaves, approximately human-sized, in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

La Rosa de Bayahibe

Atop shaded ground covered in dead foliage, the spine-covered branches of la Rosa de Bayahibe are present in the foreground in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

La Rosa de Bayahibe

Further away, the 5-pronged leaves and thin, brown-gray branches of the Piñon plant occupy the foreground, growing from the right and hanging down in the rest of the frame, with other flora in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Piñon

The 5-pronged leaves and thin, brown-gray branches of the Piñon plant occupy the foreground, with other flora in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Piñon

Tua Tua, a small plant with thin, sturdy branches and wide-pronged green leaves, grows near some ferns in the center of the image in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest; the leaves are particularly visible in this shot.

Tua Tua

A close-up on the leaves of Tua Tua - wide, three-pronged leaves with prickly stems and a matte sheen - with other greenery in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Tua Tua

Tua Tua, a small plant with thin, sturdy branches and wide-pronged green leaves, grows near some ferns in the center of the image in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Tua Tua

A close-up of a woman holding the inside of a Copey seed, a flat, dry-looking piece, with one hand in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Semilla de Copey

A woman breaking open a dried, brown Copey seed with both hands while holding her phone in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Semilla de Copey

A close-up of a woman holding a Copey seed, with an orange squash-like consistency on one part, and a much drier stem-like material on the other, in one hand in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Semilla de Copey

A few large Yerba Bruja plants - which shoot straight up and have many thin, spine-covered leaves - in front of a tree growing on leaf-covered earth in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Yerba Bruja

The long, spine-covered leaves of Yerba Bruja up close in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Yerba Bruja

A Vera tree, which is cone-shaped sprouting from the ground with many thin branches covered in many green leaves, sits behind an identifying plaque on a sunny day in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Vera

Dried plants sit in the front of a gently sloping hill covered in a wide variety of flora, illuminated by a blue, slightly cloud sky in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Un bosque del litoral

A shaded Sebucan - a narrow cactus with a height of a tree and a few tall, straight heads - occupies the center of this photo, with other Sebucan in the back right, other types of flora surrounding the Sebucan, and a blue, cloudy sky providing the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Sebucan

Pockmarked, light gray stone that looks as if covered in many animal tracks is covered in plant debris in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Piedra de Perro

The textured trunk of a Palo de Perfume is being grasped, with a bright clearing of flora in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Palo de Perfume

The long, thin stems and tiers of pointy green leaves of the Pabellon plants grow tall and unopposed, centered in a clearing with different flora in the foreground and background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Pabellon

The long, thin stems and tiers of pointy green leaves of the Pabellon plants grow tall and unopposed in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Pabellon

A sprig of Pabellon, totally green and covered in medium-size pointed leaves, is held by a woman in a pink shirt in the center of the frame, with other Pabellon plants visible in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Pabellon

Tiny, crinkled white flowers grow on the very end of the Orquidia Cimarrona plant, with broad fronds of other plants visible in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Orquidia Cimarrona

Oregon Poleo, a green plant barely taller than the dirt, covers the ground while other larger flora grow nearby in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Oregon Poleo

A few Mavi Morado, small ferns with blade-like fronds and green tops with red-stained bottoms, grow amist some groundcover in the sun in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Mavi Morado

Mata de Muela grows front and center, with a wide-open dirt clearing brimmed with flora in the background, as someone points to the base of its first branch in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Mata de Muela

In the middle of a clearing with a dirt floor sits a sizable pile of dried wood in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

La preparacion del carbon

Several of the mala madre plants, which are small with cactus-like leaves and range in coloring from light green to reddish-brown, grow from dry brush as someone points to the central plant in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

La mala madre, pero Lidia dice que es buena.

A wide fern with long leaves covered in small fronds sits left, while a smaller variety of plant with short, thin leaves growing in a tiered v-shape cover the right; larger trees and a car sit in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Guayiga y Sabila

Many small branches of the Guayacan plant sit shaded, with the ends of each branch having 3 or 4 oval-shaped leaves in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Guayacan

Careful handles wrap themselves around a sun-covered branch of Guayacan, a plant with oval-shaped leaves in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Guayacan

With triangular green leaves that hang, curling in on themselves, the Gua tree occupies the center of the frame, surrounded by flora and dead foliage in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Gua

A Jobo, a large tree with long, sloping branches covered in green leaves that hang down, is warped out of shape due to a hurricane and leans over like a person knocked onto their knees in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

El Jobo que sobrevivio el huracan George

A wider angle of many el Gringo trees, with thick, scabby red and brown bark and no visible leaves, growing in a large patch of ferns in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

El Gringo

A close photo of el Gringo, a tree with thick, scabby red and brown bark, with ferns that surround the base of the tree in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

El Gringo

The sun catches the many thin, drooping green leaves of a young Caoba tree and its thin branches contrast with a much older tree in the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Caoba Joven

Canelilla, with its smooth trunk and many thin offshoot branches (mostly leafless, occasionally sprouting round, dark green leaves), grows in front of a background of out-of-focus flora in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Canelilla

A patch of Yerba Bruja, a short, v-shaped fern growing straight up, grows on gray ground in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Campo de Yerba Bruja

A sizable Cabuya plant, a plant with long, deep green, sword-like fronds that jut out from it, competes for space with a fern, surrounded by many ferns of a different variety in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Cabuya

A hand holds the blackened tip of a long, sharp leaf in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Cabuya

Buena Madre, a very small fern with green or red leaves that open outward, grows prolifically over some dead leaves from another nearby plant in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Buena Madre

The ground is covered in knee-high ferns with spined, pointy leaves shooting upwards while a cactus near head-height, with broad leaves lacking spines, occupies the center of the image; more flora fills the background in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Arquitiria y Sabila

A close shot of the Arbol de Copey, with many thin brown branches covered in spade-shaped leaves and light green berries or seeds in Lidia's Padre Nuestro section of the Coast Forest

Arbol de Copey

Plant Guide for Cotubanamá

Out of muddy earth and surrounded by another type of groundcover, Vetiver sits in the center of the picture, with stalks like grass of light green or dried brown colors in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Vetiver

An Uva de Playa tree grows central, next to another tree, on a beach in front of a large body of water, with large, circular leaves that crowd each other and several trunks that curl around themselves in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Uva de Playa

Several small Siempre Viva, near ankle-height, with green oval leaves that have small serraded edges sprouted outwards from a sturdy, thin stem in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Siempre Viva

The seeds - brown or green, with long, narrow, drooping shapes - and leaves - thin, sharp, and drooping as well - of a Peregrina tree highlighted against a blue, cloudy sky in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Semilla y Hoja de Peregrina

Over dusty pale ground, a hand holds a Jaboncillo seed, a red shiny building and a dark black seed in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Semilla de Jaboncillo

An extreme close-up of the Patricia plant's leaves, which are a bleached green, with light brown stems and long leaves with circular-patterned edges that curve upwards in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Patricia en detalle

A bleached green groundcover with thin, light brown stems and leaves like unrolled cones - Patricia - sits in the center of other plants in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Patricia

A bleached green groundcover, Patricia, fills the whole picture, with thin, light brown stems and leaves like unrolled cones in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Patricia

A Palma de Coco, with a single ringed trunk, massive fern-like leaves and large brown seeds grows alone against the sky in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Palma de Coco

Thin branches of a plant in the foreground obscure the oval leaves and fuzzy brown seeds of the Ojo de Aguila against the sky in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Ojo de Aguila – Hoja y Capullo

Ojo de Aguila, with a brown, furry texture, surrounded in dried leaves, with several gray berries central to the photo in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Ojo de Aguila – Detalle

A massive Manglar Negro tree, with hundreds of branches that fill the photo, takes up an entire clearing in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Manglar Negro

Mala Madre, a small plant below knee-height with serrated leaves, sprouts from leaf-covered earth in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Mala Madre aka Buena Madre

A young Maguey plant, with dark green, spiny leaves, grows atop fallen leaves in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Maguey

A few Maguey, ferns with dark green, blade-like leaves, grow surrounded by groundcover in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Maguey

Part of a trunk grows out of the ground in front of other plants; the top half was clearly torn off, and it seems partially uprooted in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Lo que queda de la palma despues del huracan

A patch of earth where something was uprooted surrounded by smaller, new plant growth in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Lo que queda de la palma despues del huracan

A number of sticks surround a large pile of dirt in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Hormiguero

Several Guayiga ferns grow in front of other plants, their long, thin blades crowding one another in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Guayiga

Guayiga, a fern with long, thin blades at near knee-height, grows next to some dead branches in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Guayiga

A Guayacan tree sits center with its green, oval-shaped leaves and light bark in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Guayacan

A Flamboyan tree, with fern-like leaves; long, curved, seeds; and bunches of red, circular flowers in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Flamboyan

A sunny picture of a variety of plants covered in leaves of all shades of green in front of a large body of water that stretches to the horizon in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

El bosque litoral de la Romana

A sunny picture of a variety of plants covered in leaves of all shades of green in front of a large body of water that stretches to the horizon in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

El bosque litoral de la Romana

A number of tall cacti with orderly rows of spikes grow among a number of other pale trees in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Cactus

La Peregrina, tree with long, sturdy trunks, and thin, drooping leaves, sits under a powerline in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Arbol: La Peregrina

An arbol de jaboncillo grows next to a sky-blue building with white windows, with tall branches and pale bark, leaves clustered near the top in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Arbol de Jaboncillo

A closeup of the flakey red and brown trunk of Almaciga, with other plants in the background in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Almaciga

The reddish trunk of Almaciga grows surrounded by many other plants on a bright day in the Cotubanamá region of Lidia's Coastal Forest

Almaciga

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