The vegetation of Mapastepec varies from the lowland jungle and mangroves of the Pacific coastal plain to oak-pine forest in the high mountains of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. Emblematic mangrove and lowland species in La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve include the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus), gumbo-limbo, also known as copperwood, or chaca (Bursera simaruba), Mexican palmetto (Sabal mexicana), (Cyperus spp.), and Malabar chestnut, or saba nut (Pachira aquatica). Other species growing in the lowland areas and adjacent highlands include (Pithecellobium dulce), and pinguin (Bromelia pinguin).