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 aris ...

on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. It acts as a barrier between the east and west coasts, hindering travel. The tallest peak of the range is

Xiuguluan Mountain Mount Xiuguluan (, Bunun: Mahudas) 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 Le ...

, .

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 Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

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 Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

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

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

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 is bordered by the Chungyang Range to the southeast. The tallest peak of the Xueshan Range is Xueshan, Xueshan/Sekuwan, which has a height of . Shei-Pa National Park is located around ...

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 Xueshan or Sekuwan (in Atayal, formerly known as among others) is a mountain in the Heping District of Taichung, Taiwan. It is the 2nd-highest mountain in Taiwan and in East Asia, at above sea level. It is located in the Shei-Pa Nationa ...

(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 concentrate ...

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

Castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. The Engli ...

'' forests dominated by '' Cryptocarya chinensis'' and '' Castanopsis hystrix'' with scattered stands of the subtropical pine ''

Pinus massoniana ''Pinus massoniana'' (English: Masson's pine, Chinese red pine, horsetail pine; Chinese: 馬尾松) is a species of pine, native to Taiwan, a wide area of central and southern China, and northern Vietnam. Description It is an evergreen tree ...

''. As elevation increases, the evergreen broadleaf trees are gradually replaced by deciduous broadleaf trees and

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

s. At higher elevations, ''

Cyclobalanopsis glauca ''Quercus glauca'' ( syn. ''Cyclobalanopsis glauca''), commonly called ring-cupped oak or Japanese blue oak, is a tree in the beech family (Fagaceae). It is native to eastern and southern Asia, where it is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, nor ...

'' replaces laurel and ''Castanopsis'' as the dominant tree. Above , deciduous broadleaf trees like

Formosan alder ''Alnus formosana'', the Formosan alder, is a species of alder endemic to Taiwan. It is a medium-sized tree, up to in height and in trunk diameter. Description The formosan alder is a trees up to 20 meters in height with dark gray-brown bark ...

''(Alnus formosana)'' and

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

''(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'', the Taiwan spruce, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in Taiwan, and it is the only species of spruce in Taiwan. It is the southernmost species of spruce in the world, being spread near the T ...

(''Picea morrisonicola''), and

Taiwan fir ''Abies kawakamii'' is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in Taiwan. First described in 1908 by Bunzō Hayata as a variety of ''Abies mariesii'', a high-mountain fir native to Japan; the next year it was elevated to spe ...

(''Abies kawakamii'').

References

Citations

Bibliography

* .

External links

* {{Topography of Taiwan Mountain ranges of Taiwan Landforms of Hualien County