The Central Mountain Range is the principal

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of the range is

Xiuguluan Mountain Mount Xiuguluan (, Bunun: Halinpudu) is a mountain in Taiwan in Yushan National Park with an elevation of 3,825 m. It is located in Hualien County by the Xiuguluan River which has many tributaries such as Fuyuan River, Fengping River, and Lek ...

, .

Names

"Central Range" or "Central Mountain Range" is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the range's Chinese name, the ''Zhōngyāng Shānmài'' or ''Shānmò''. It is also sometimes simply called the Zhongyang or in English. During the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, the range was known as the , from the Wade-Giles

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

of the Chinese name ''Dàshān'', meaning "Big Mountains".

Geography

In a broad sense, Central Mountain Range includes its conjoint ranges such as

Xueshan Range The Xueshan Range is a mountain range in northern Taiwan. It faces the Chungyang Range on the southeast. The tallest peak of Xueshan Range is Xueshan ("Snowy Mountain"), which has a height of . Shei-Pa National Park is located around the peak ...

and

Yushan Range The Yushan Range, formerly the and also known as the JadeMountain Range, is a mountain range in the central-southern region of Taiwan Island. It spans Chiayi County, Kaohsiung City, and Nantou County. It faces the Central Mountain Range on the ...

; thus the tallest peak of Central Mountain Range in this sense is Yushan (Jade Mountain/Mount Morrison), , and the second tallest peak is Xueshan (Snow Mountain), .

Ecology

The Central Range lies within the

Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests The Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests is an ecoregion that covers most of the island of Taiwan, with the exception of the southern tip of the island, which constitutes the South Taiwan monsoon rain forests ecoregion. The island's concentrated ...

ecoregion, and the composition of the forest varies with elevation. The coastal plains and lower elevations are covered by evergreen laurel-'' Castanopsis'' forests dominated by ''

Cryptocarya chinensis ''Cryptocarya chinensis'', commonly known as the Chinese cryptocarya, is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to the subtropical forests of Taiwan, southern China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan), and Japan Japan ( ja, 日 ...

'' and ''

Castanopsis hystrix ''Castanopsis hystrix'' or Patle katus is a species of evergreen broadleaf tree, which grows up to 30 meters in height. The tree is found in subtropical broadleaved evergreen forests, ranging from the eastern Himalayas of Nepal, Bhutan, and nort ...

'' with scattered stands of the subtropical pine '' Pinus massoniana''. As elevation increases, the evergreen broadleaf trees are gradually replaced by deciduous broadleaf trees and

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

s. At higher elevations, '' Cyclobalanopsis glauca'' replaces laurel and ''Castanopsis'' as the dominant tree. Above , deciduous broadleaf trees like Formosan alder ''(Alnus formosana)'' and

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since h ...

''(Acer'' spp.) mix with Taiwan hemlock ''(Tsuga chinensis).'' At the highest elevations, subalpine forests are dominated by conifers, including Taiwan hemlock, Taiwan spruce (''Picea morrisonicola''), and Taiwan fir (''Abies kawakamii'').

Names

Geography

Ecology

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links