Columnea mastersonii
Overview
A detailed profile for this species is sourced from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as assessments become available.
Columnea mastersonii faces significant pressure from deforestation and habitat conversion in its limited range within Costa Rican cloud forests. The species' epiphytic lifestyle makes it particularly vulnerable to logging activities that remove its host trees, while climate change threatens to shift the elevation zones where suitable cloud forest conditions persist. Agricultural expansion and infrastructure development continue to fragment the remaining patches of suitable habitat.
Habitat
This epiphytic plant inhabits the cloud forests of Costa Rica's mountain ranges, typically growing on tree branches and trunks in the humid, mist-shrouded environments between 1,200-2,000 meters elevation. It requires the consistent moisture and filtered light conditions characteristic of these specialized montane ecosystems.