What is a várzea forest, which is found in the Amazonian Basin?

A várzea forest is a seasonal floodplain forest inundated by whitewater rivers that occurs in the Amazon biome. Until the late 1970s, the definition was less clear and várzea was often used for all periodically flooded Amazonian forests.

Although sometimes described as consisting only of a forest, várzea also contains more open, seasonally flooded habitats such as grasslands, including floating meadows.