PlantsMap

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5 plants worth knowing

Rwanda

Rwanda, the “land of a thousand hills”, lies almost entirely at 1,500–2,500 m, so despite being close to the equator it has a mild, spring-like climate with two rainy seasons. Its densely populated slopes are covered in terraced fields, banana groves and plantations, and natural vegetation survives mainly in national parks: in the Nyungwe montane rainforest, on the Virunga volcanoes with their bamboo and hagenia forests, and on the Akagera savannas in the east.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. Arabica coffee 1

    crop

    Arabica coffee

    Coffea arabica

    Rwandan Bourbon arabica, grown on the slopes of the thousand hills, is considered one of Africa’s finest coffees.
  2. Tea plant 2

    crop

    Tea plant

    Camellia sinensis

    Emerald tea plantations on the edge of Nyungwe Forest are one of Rwanda’s most beautiful landscapes – and an important export.
  3. Red-hot-poker tree 3

    tree

    Red-hot-poker tree

    Erythrina abyssinica

    A tree with blazing scarlet flowers that Rwandans believe has protective power – it is planted beside homes and graves.
  4. Hagenia 4

    tree

    Hagenia

    Hagenia abyssinica

    Moss-draped, crooked hagenias form a fairy-tale forest on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes – home of the mountain gorilla.
  5. Common wild fig 5

    tree

    Common wild fig

    Ficus thonningii

    The tree of the old royal courts – Rwandans once dressed in cloth made from umuvumu bark.