With its well developed prop root system, the sierra palm holds on to the hillside with the balance of a gymnist. The palms produce copious amounts of small purple fruits that are the mainstay of the diet of the Puerto Rican parrot. They are usually adorned with epiphytes, some small and nondescript, but others, like the flaming torchbromeliad, Gumania berteroniana , with its orange-red flowering spike and bracts, and small yellow flowers, are simply spectacular. Still higher, in elevations above 2500 ft., and on up to the mountain peaks as high as 3500 ft., is the Dwarf Forest. The cool temperatures, averaging only 66 degrees fahrenheit, and the high rainfall, greater than 180 inches annually, contribute to the short stature of most of the trees.
Clouds cover the forest more than half the time greatly reducing the light intensity.
There is no dominant tree species here, and some of the same trees seen at lower elevations are evident, they are just shorter. The easiest trees to identify are the mountain oaks, Tabebuia rigida . These are not oaks at all though, but members of the Bignoniaceae family.