Pitons

The Pitons are two mountainous volcanic plugs, volcanic spires, located in Saint Lucia. Petit Piton is 743 m (2,438 ft) high and Gros Piton is 798.25 m (2,618.9 ft) high; they are linked by the Piton Mitan ridge. Piton means mountain peak in French, so Petit and Gros Piton respectively refer to the smaller and larger peak. The Pitons are a World Heritage Site, 2,909 ha (7,190 acres) in size, and located near the town of Soufrière.

The Pitons are located between the towns of Soufrière and Choiseul on the southwestern coast of the island.

The dominant terrestrial vegetation is tropical moist forest grading to subtropical wet forest, with small areas of dry forest and wet elfin woodland on the summits. At least 148 plant species have been recorded on Gros Piton, 97 on Petit Piton and the intervening ridge, among them eight rare tree species. Gros Piton is home to some 27 bird species (five of them endemic), three indigenous rodents, one opossum, three bats, eight reptiles, and three amphibians. The site has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

The volcanic complex includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumaroles and hot springs.