Podocarpus

Declared in 1982, Podocarpus takes its name from the podocarp, the only conifer genus native to Ecuador, which the park protects. Nicknamed the botanical garden of the Americas by 19th-century naturalists, it holds more than 4,000 catalogued plant species, including a concentration of orchids among the highest documented in any protected area in the world, favoured by its position at the meeting point of the Andes and the Amazon basin.