Meso American Cloud Forest

The Mesoamerican Cloud Forest exists as a living lifeboat for species that have vanished from their native habitats. It was established in 1984, when botanists realized the cool, constant fog of San Francisco perfectly mimics the high-altitude climate of the mountains in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. Many of the plants here are now extinct in the wild due to logging and agriculture, making this garden one of the few places on the planet where they continue to survive. Among its residents is a shrub with vibrant red and gold flowers called Deppea splendens, which was collected in the wild in the 1970s only for its original home to be replaced by a cornfield shortly thereafter. Because of this, every specimen of that plant you see here is a direct descendant of those original cuttings, kept alive through careful propagation.