page_title: Caatinga
section_title: Vegetation
hierarchical_section_title: Caatinga / Ecology / Vegetation
caption_attribution_description: Português: Árvore encontrada no sertão da Bahia, esta foi na cidade de Santa Bárbara, na Bahia.
context_page_description: Caatinga is a type of desert vegetation, and an ecoregion characterized by this vegetation in interior northeastern Brazil. The name "Caatinga" is a Tupi word meaning "white forest" or "white vegetation".
  The Caatinga is a xeric shrubland and thorn forest, which consists primarily of small, thorny trees that shed their leaves seasonally. Cacti, thick-stemmed plants, thorny brush, and arid-adapted grasses make up the ground layer. Most vegetation experiences a brief burst of activity during the three-month long rainy season.
  Caatinga falls entirely within earth's tropical zone and is one of 6 major ecoregions of Brazil. It covers 850,000 km², nearly 10% of Brazil's territory. It is home to 26 million people and over 2000 species of plants, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
context_section_description: The Caatinga does not correspond to a single type of vegetation, but rather a broad mosaic.  Nonetheless, all vegetative structure is adapted to the xeric climate.  Succulent and crassulaceous species dominate; non-succulents exhibit small, firm leaves and intense branching at the base, akin to shrubs.  Palm stands usually contain carnaúba or babaçu palms, but occasionally tucumã and macaúba.
  
  The Caatinga has enough endemic species to constitute a floristic province.   
  
  Most authors divide the Caatinga into two different subtypes: dry ("sertão") and humid ("agreste"), but categorizations vary to as many as eight different vegetative regimes.
caption: Cereus jamacaru
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