paramo

A treeless alpine plateau of the tropical Andes.

A desert plain, bare of trees, at a high elevation, open to the winds, and uncultivated and uninhabited.

According to Schimper (“Plant-Geog.” (trans.), p. 743), the paramos, lying in the alpine region of the equatorial Cordilleras in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, are essentially steppes, and are distinguished in character from the punas by their moisture. They begin at the limit of dwarf forest and shrub wood, are either treeless or bear isolated gnarled individuals, and are covered with a vegetation of grass and low herbs, with a peculiar taller growth of composite plants, called frailejon (which see). Compare puna.

A high, bleak plateau or district, with stunted trees, and cold, damp atmosphere, as in the Andes, in South America.

a treeless grassland ecosystem covering extensive high areas of equatorial mountains, especially in South America