AREAS BETWEEN PUERTO VALLARTA AND COLIMA (SOUTHWEST COAST)
Here are pics from along or near Highway 200, which parallels the Jalisco and Colima coast (sometimes very near the coast, sometimes a little bit inland). This area is tropical dry forest (with a strong summer wet and winter dry seasons), but the variability can be high over short distances, with dry shrubbery just a few miles (and little elevation change) from rich forest.

The pictures will be arranged roughly from northwest to southeast.

Highway 200 about 30 miles south of Puerto Vallarta (around 1500' above sea level where some pines were native)...



View of the hills...



A little further south (and lower in elevation), near Tomatlán...





A mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), known locally as cóbano, with odd-looking but inedible fruit.





I believe this is a llano palm (Sabal rosei), very nearby...



A calabash tree (Crescentia cujete), very common along roadsides in the dry to moderate rainfall areas...





A bocote tree (Cordia elaeagnoides) in bloom. This tree is also very common along the south part of the Jalisco coastline and (especially) the Colima coastline. This is a little south of Tomatlán (Jalisco).





Between Tomatlán and Chamela, things were drier for awhile, with mostly shrubbier trees from the legume family...



It gets wetter again (near Careyitos), not just near streams, like here, but on hills as well...



A mystery tree (not sure of the kind) with brillant white flowers, along the roadside near Careyitos...



Close up...



Cohune palms (Attalea cohune) near La Manzanilla (note how dense the thicket is behind the tall palms)...



The beach at La Manzanilla (in a small bay)...



Coastal bluffs at La Manzanilla...



There were many coconut palms along this stretch of coastline...



Going just a bit further southeast, just past the state border in Colima were a lot of roadside coconut palm groves (with bananas in the understory)...



A mountain in extreme western Colima (northwest of Manzanillo) shrouded in clouds and fog (note the bocote in bloom to the left)...



Same location--rain is coming!!!



All of the above pictures on this page were taken in September 2009 by Brandt Maxwell.

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