Laurasilva
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Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of
subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...
forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
found in areas with high
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...
and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by
broadleaf tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with ne ...
species with
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
, glossy and elongated leaves, known as "laurophyll" or "lauroid". Plants from the laurel family (
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...
) may or may not be present, depending on the location.


Ecology

Laurel and laurophyll forests have a patchy distribution in warm
temperate regions In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
, often occupying topographic refugia where the
moisture Moisture is the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts. Moisture is defined as water in the adsorbed or absorbed phase. Small amounts of water may be found, for example, in the air (humidity), in foods, and in some comme ...
from the ocean condenses so that it falls as rain or fog and soils have high moisture levels.Abstract
at NASA – MODIS: Izquierdo, T; de las Heras, P; Marquez, A (2011). Vegetation indices changes in the cloud forest of La Gomera Island (Canary Islands) and their hydrological implications". ''Hydrological Processes'', 25(10), 1531–41: " sults prove the absence of summer drought stress in the laurel forest implying that the fog drip income is high enough to maintain enough soil moisture".
They have a mild
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...
, seldom exposed to
fires Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion reaction when the fuel ...
or
frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
s and are found in relatively acidic soils.
Primary productivity Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...
is high, but can be limited by mild summer drought. The canopies are evergreen, dominated by species with glossy- or leathery-leaves, and with moderate tree diversity.
Insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...
are the most important herbivores, but
birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
and
bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...
are the predominant seed-dispersers and
pollinators A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the ma ...
.
Decomposers Decomposers are organisms that break down dead organisms and release the nutrients from the dead matter into the environment around them. Decomposition relies on chemical processes similar to digestion in animals; in fact, many sources use the word ...
such as invertebrates, fungi, and microbes on the forest floor are critical to
nutrient cycling A nutrient cycle (or ecological recycling) is the movement and exchange of inorganic and organic matter back into the production of matter. Energy flow is a unidirectional and noncyclic pathway, whereas the movement of mineral nutrients is cyc ...
. These conditions of temperature and moisture occur in four different
geographical Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
regions: * Along the eastern margin of
continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...
s at
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
s of 25° to 35°. * Along the western coast of continents between 35° and 50° latitude. * On islands between 25° and 35° or 40° latitude. * In humid
montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...
regions of the tropics. Some laurel forests are a type of
cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...
. Cloud forests are found on mountain slopes where the dense moisture from the sea or ocean is precipitated as warm moist air masses blowing off the ocean are forced upwards by the terrain, which cools the air mass to the
dew point The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to produce a relative humidity of 100%. This temperature depends on the pressure and water content of the air. When the air at a temperature above the ...
. The moisture in the air condenses as rain or fog, creating a habitat characterized by cool, moist conditions in the air and soil. The resulting climate is wet and mild, with the annual oscillation of the temperature moderated by the proximity of the ocean.


Characteristics

Laurel forests are characterized by evergreen and hardwood trees, reaching up to in height. Laurel forest, laurisilva, and laurissilva all refer to plant communities that resemble the
bay laurel ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...
. Some species belong to the true laurel family,
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...
, but many have similar foliage to the Lauraceae due to
convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...
. As in any other rainforest, plants of the laurel forests must adapt to high rainfall and humidity. The trees have adapted in response to these ecological drivers by developing
analogous structures Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...
, leaves that repel water. Laurophyll or
lauroid This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...
leaves are characterized by a generous layer of
wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give lo ...
, making them glossy in appearance, and a narrow, pointed oval shape with an ''apical mucro'' or "
drip tip This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...
", which permits the leaves to shed water despite the humidity, allowing respiration. The scientific names ''laurina'', ''laurifolia'', ''laurophylla'', ''lauriformis'', and ''lauroides'' are often used to name species of other plant families that resemble the Lauraceae.Otto E. (Otto Emery) Jennings. "Fossil plants from the beds of volcanic ash near Missoula, western Montana" ''Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum'', 8(2)
p. 417
The term ''Lucidophyll'', referring to the shiny surface of the leaves, was proposed in 1969 by Tatuo Kira. The scientific names '' Daphnidium'', ''
Daphniphyllum ''Daphniphyllum'' is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Daphniphyllaceae and was described as a genus in 1826. The genus includes evergreen shrubs and trees mainly native to east and southeast Asia, but also found in the Indian Subconti ...
'', '' Daphnopsis'', ''
Daphnandra ''Daphnandra'' is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Atherospermataceae, or formerly Monimiaceae. The genus is endemic to Australia. There are six species, occurring in New South Wales and Queensland: *'' Daphnandra apatela'' Schodde S ...
'', ''
Daphne Daphne (; ; , , ), a figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in which she appears, but t ...
'' from Greek: Δάφνη, meaning "laurel", ''
laurus ''Laurus'' () is a genus of evergreen trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus contains three or more species, including the bay laurel or sweet bay, ''L. nobilis'', widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and a cul ...
'', ''
Laureliopsis ''Laureliopsis'' is a genus of flowering plants with just one species, ''Laureliopsis philippiana'', known as tepa and wawán, endemic to Chile and the narrow neighboring strip of Argentina (35 to 45°S). In Chile it is found from Maule to Ays ...
'', '' laureola'', '' laurelin'', '' laurifolia'', '' laurifolius'', '' lauriformis'', '' laurina'', ''
Prunus laurocerasus ''Prunus laurocerasus'', also known as cherry laurel, common laurel and sometimes English laurel in North America, is an evergreen species of cherry (''Prunus''), native to regions bordering the Black Sea in southwestern Asia and southeastern Eur ...
'' (cherry laurel), ''
Prunus lusitanica ''Prunus lusitanica'', the Portuguese laurel cherry or Portugal laurel, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, the Macaronesian archipelagos, and the French Basque Country.Euro+Med ...
'' (Portugal laurel), ''
Corynocarpus laevigatus ''Corynocarpus laevigatus'', commonly known as karaka or the New Zealand laurel, is a medium-sized evergreen tree in the family Corynocarpaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is common throughout the North Island and less common in the Sou ...
'' (New Zealand Laurel), and ''
Corynocarpus rupestris ''Corynocarpus rupestris'', commonly known as the Glenugie karaka, is a rainforest tree found in eastern Australia. It is a rare plant with a ROTAP rating of 2VC-t. There are two sub-species; ''arborescens'' is a small hairless shrub or tree up ...
'' designate species of other plant families whose leaves resemble Lauraceae. The term "lauroid" is also applied to climbing plants such as
ivies The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference of eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, and in football, in the ...
, whose waxy leaves somewhat resemble those of the Lauraceae. Mature laurel forests typically have a dense
tree canopy In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only p ...
and low light levels at the forest floor. Some forests are characterized by an overstory of emergent trees. Laurel forests are typically multi-species, and diverse in both the number of species and the genera and families represented. In the absence of strong environmental selective pressure, the number of species sharing the arboreal stratum is high, although not reaching the diversity of tropical forests; nearly 100 tree species have been described in the laurisilva rainforest of
Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...
(
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
), about 20 in the Canary Islands. This species diversity contrasts with other temperate forest types, which typically have a canopy dominated by one or a few species. Species diversity generally increases towards the tropics. In this sense, the laurel forest is a transitional type between temperate forests and tropical rainforests.


Origin

Laurel forests are composed of
vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...
s that evolved millions of years ago. Lauroid floras have included forests of
Podocarpaceae Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly southern hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pres ...
and
southern beech ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guin ...
. This type of vegetation characterized parts of the ancient
supercontinent In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continent, continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", ...
of
Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...
and once covered much of the
tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
. Some lauroid species that are found outside laurel forests are
relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...
s of vegetation that covered much of the mainland of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, Europe, South America, Antarctica, Africa, and North America when their climate was warmer and more humid. Cloud forests are believed to have retreated and advanced during successive geological eras, and their species adapted to warm and wet conditions were replaced by more cold-tolerant or drought-tolerant
sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...
plant communities. Many of the late Cretaceous – early Tertiary Gondwanan species of flora became extinct, but some survived as relict species in the milder, moister climate of coastal areas and on islands. Thus Tasmania and New Caledonia share related species extinct on the Australian mainland, and the same case occurs on the
Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...
islands of the Atlantic and on the
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
,
Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...
,
Jeju Jeju may refer to: South Korea * Jeju Island (Jejudo), South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo ** Jeju City, its capital ** Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju language ** The ...
,
Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...
,
Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...
, and
Ryūkyū Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands ( Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami) and Okinawa Prefecture ( Daitō, Miyako, Y ...
of the Pacific. Although some remnants of archaic flora, including species and genera extinct in the rest of the world, have persisted as endemic to such coastal mountain and shelter sites, their biodiversity was reduced. Isolation in these fragmented habitats, particularly on islands, has led to the development of
vicariant Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...
species and genera. Thus, fossils dating from before the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...
s show that species of ''
Laurus ''Laurus'' () is a genus of evergreen trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus contains three or more species, including the bay laurel or sweet bay, ''L. nobilis'', widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and a cul ...
'' were formerly distributed more widely around the Mediterranean and
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
. Isolation gave rise to ''
Laurus azorica ''Laurus azorica'', the Azores laurel or Macaronesian laurel, is a small, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), found only on the Azores island group in the North Atlantic. Description The Azores laurel is a small dioecious tree, grow ...
'' in the Azores Islands, ''
Laurus nobilis ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...
'' on the mainland, and '' Laurus novocanariensis'' in the Madeira and the Canary Islands.


Ecoregions

Laurel forests occur in small areas where their particular climatic requirements prevail, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Inner laurel forest ecoregions, a related and distinct community of
vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...
s, evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of
Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...
, and species of this community are now found in several separate areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
, southernmost
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
. Most Laurel forest species are evergreen, and occur in tropical, subtropical, and mild temperate regions and
cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...
s of the northern and southern hemispheres, in particular the
Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...
n islands, southern
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
,
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
,
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, and central
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, but they are pantropical, and for example in Africa they are endemic to the Congo region,
Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
,
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
, and
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
, in lowland forest and
Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions o ...
areas. Since laurel forests are archaic populations that diversified as a result of isolation on islands and tropical mountains, their presence is a key to dating climatic history.


East Asia

Laurel forests are common in subtropical eastern Asia, and form the climax vegetation in far southern Japan,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
, southern China, the mountains of
Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...
, and the eastern
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
. In southern China, laurel forest once extended throughout the Yangtze Valley and Sichuan Basin from the
East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...
to the
Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...
. The northernmost laurel forests in East Asia occur at 39° N. on the Pacific coast of Japan. Altitudinally, the forests range from sea-level up to 1000 metres in warm-temperate Japan, and up to 3000 metres elevation in the subtropical mountains of Asia. Some forests are dominated by
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...
, while in others evergreen laurophyll trees of the beech family (
Fagaceae The Fagaceae (; ) are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with around 1,000 or more species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species ...
) are predominant, including ring-cupped oaks (''
Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
'' subgenus ''Cyclobalanopsis''), chinquapin (''
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 ...
'') and tanoak (''
Lithocarpus ''Lithocarpus'' is a genus in the beech family, Fagaceae. Trees in this genus are commonly known as the stone oaks and differ from ''Quercus'' primarily because they produce insect-pollinated flowers on erect spikes and the female flowers hav ...
''). Other characteristic plants include ''
Schima ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...
'' and ''
Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...
'', which are members of the tea family (
Theaceae Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family of flowering plants comprising shrubs and trees, including the economically important tea plant, and the ornamental camellias. It can be described as having from seven to 40 genera, depending on the sour ...
), as well as
magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
s,
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
, and
rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...
s. These subtropical forests lie between the temperate deciduous and conifer forests to the north and the subtropical/tropical monsoon forests of Indochina and India to the south. Associations of Lauraceous species are common in broadleaved forests; for example, ''
Litsea ''Litsea'' is a genus of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes a large number of accepted species in tropical and subtropical areas of North America and Asia. Characteristics They a ...
'' spp., '' Persea odoratissima, Persea duthiei,'' etc., along with such others as ''
Engelhardia spicata ''Engelhardia spicata'' is a species of plant in the Juglandaceae family. It is recognized to include the variety ''E. spicata'' var. ''integra'' (Kurz) W.E. Manning ex Steen. Distribution and habitat Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhut ...
,'' tree rhododendron (''
Rhododendron arboreum ''Rhododendron arboreum'', the tree rhododendron, is an evergreen shrub or small tree with a showy display of bright red flowers. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand. It is the national flower of ...
''), ''
Lyonia ovalifolia ''Lyonia ovalifolia'' is a species of plant in the family Ericaceae. This plant is Native to Himalaya, Nepal, China, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. It is known as Anyaar in India and Angeri in Nepal. Poisoning One ca ...
,'' wild Himalayan pear (''
Pyrus pashia ''Pyrus pashia'', the wild Himalayan pear, is a small to medium size deciduous tree of the small and oval shaped crown with ovate, finely toothed leaves, attractive white flowers with red anthers and small pear-like fruits. It is a fruit bearing ...
''), sumac (''
Rhus Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria' ...
'' spp.), Himalayan maple ('' Acer oblongum''), box myrtle (''
Myrica esculenta ''Myrica esculenta'' is a tree or large shrub of the tropics. The native range of this species stretches from Northern India (Uttarakhand) to Nepal to southern China and western and central Malesia. Its common names include box myrtle, bayberry ...
''), ''
Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
'' spp., and birch (''
Betula A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
'' spp.). Some other common trees and large shrub species of subtropical forests are ''
Semecarpus anacardium ''Semecarpus anacardium'', commonly known as the marking nut tree, Malacca bean tree, marany nut, oriental cashew, dhobi nut tree and varnish tree, is a native of India, found in the outer Himalayas to the Coromandel Coast. It is closely related ...
,
Crateva unilocularis ''Crateva'' is a genus of flowering plants in the caper family, Capparaceae. It includes 21 species which range through the tropical regions of the world, including the tropical Americas (Mexico to northeastern Argentina), sub-Saharan Africa, the ...
,
Trewia nudiflora ''Mallotus nudiflorus'' (syn. ''Trevia nudiflora''), the false white teak, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commo ...
, Premna interrupta'', Vietnam elm ('' Ulmus lancifolia''), '' Ulmus chumlia,
Glochidion velutinum ''Glochidion'' is a genus of Flowering plant, flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 170 species, distributed from Mad ...
'', beautyberry (''
Callicarpa arborea ''Callicarpa'' (beautyberry) is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the family Lamiaceae.Heywood, V.H., Brummitt, R.K., Culham, A. & Seberg, O. 2007: Flowering Plant Families of the World. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. They are native to east and ...
''), Indian mahogany (''
Toona ciliata ''Toona ciliata'' is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout South Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. Names It is commonly known as the red cedar (a name shared by other trees), tone, toon or toona (als ...
''), fig tree (''
Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...
'' spp.), '' Mahosama similicifolia, Trevesia palmata,'' brushholly ('' Xylosma longifolium''), false nettle (''
Boehmeria rugulosa ''Boehmeria'' is a genus of 47 species of flowering plants in the nettle family Urticaceae. Of the species, 33 are indigenous to the Old World and 14 to the New World; no species is indigenous to both the Old and New Worlds. The species include h ...
''), '' Heptapleurum venulosum, Casearia graveilens,
Actinodaphne reticulata ''Actinodaphne'' is an Asian genus of flowering plants in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It contains approximately 125 speciesSapium insigne'', Nepalese alder (''
Alnus nepalensis ''Alnus nepalensis'' is a large alder tree found in the subtropical highlands of the Himalayas. The tree is called Utis in Nepali and Nepalese alder in English. It is used in land reclamation, as firewood and for making charcoal. Descriptio ...
''), marlberry (''
Ardisia thyrsiflora ''Ardisia'' (coralberry or marlberry) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. It was in the former Myrsinaceae family now recognised as the myrsine sub-family Myrsinoideae. They are distributed in the Americas, Asia, Australia, ...
''), holly (''
Ilex ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen or ...
'' spp), ''
Macaranga pustulata ''Macaranga'' is a large genus of Old World tropical trees of the family Euphorbiaceae and the only genus in the subtribe Macaranginae (tribe Acalypheae). Native to Africa, Australasia, Asia and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, ...
, Trichilia cannoroides,'' hackberry (''
Celtis tetrandra ''Celtis tetrandra'', called the Nilgiri elm, is a species of flowering plant in the hackberry genus ''Celtis'', family Cannabaceae Cannabaceae is a small family of flowering plants, known as the hemp family. As now circumscribed, the famil ...
''), '' Wenlendia puberula,
Saurauia nepalensis ''Saurauia'' is a genus of plants in the family Actinidiaceae. It comprises about over 300 species distributed in the tropics and subtropics of Asia and South and Central America. Genetic evidence and the cell biology of the group support monophy ...
,'' ring-cupped oak (''
Quercus 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 ...
''), ''
Ziziphus incurva ''Ziziphus incurva'' is a medium-sized tree from the family Rhamnaceae which gives edible fruit. It is found from 900 meters to 1600 meters altitude in eastern Nepal including Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, ...
,
Camellia kissi ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 describ ...
, Hymenodictyon flaccidum, Maytenus thomsonii'', winged prickly ash ('' Zanthoxylum armatum''), '' Eurya acuminata'', matipo (''
Myrsine semiserrata ''Myrsine'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. It was formerly placed in the family Myrsinaceae before this was merged into the Primulaceae. It is found nearly worldwide, primarily in tropical and subtropical areas. It cont ...
''), ''
Sloanea tomentosa ''Sloanea tomentosa'' is a species of plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name un ...
,
Hydrangea aspera ''Hydrangea aspera'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae native to dense forests in the region between the Himalayas, across southern China, to Taiwan. It is a large, erect deciduous shrub growing to tall and wide, with br ...
,
Symplocos ''Symplocos'' is a genus of flowering plants in the order Ericales. It contains about 300 species distributed in Asia and the Americas. Many species grow in humid tropical regions. This is sometimes considered to be the only genus in family Sympl ...
'' spp., and ''
Cleyera ''Cleyera'' is a plant genus consisting of 21 speciesThe Plant List (2013). ''Cleyera''. Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ Accessed 24 August 2020/ref> of tender, evergreen shrubs to small trees, mostly native t ...
'' spp. In the temperate zone, the cloud forest between 2,000 and 3,000 m altitude supports broadleaved evergreen forest dominated by plants such as ''
Quercus lamellosa ''Quercus lamellosa'' (syn. ''Cyclobalanopsis lamellosa'') is a species of oak (''Quercus'') native to the Himalaya and adjoining mountains from Tibet and Nepal east as far as Guangxi and northern Thailand, growing at altitudes of 1300–2500 m. ...
'' and '' Q. semecarpifolia'' in pure or mixed stands. ''
Lindera Dried fruits of ''Lindera neesiana'' used as spice (coll. MHNT) ''Lindera'' is a genus of about 80–100Tsuga dumosa ''Tsuga dumosa'', commonly called the Himalayan hemlock or in Chinese, Yunnan tieshan (), is a species of conifer native to the eastern Himalayas. It occurs in parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Tibet. Within its native range t ...
''), and ''Rhododendron'' spp. are also present in the upper levels of this zone. Other important species are ''
Magnolia campbellii ''Magnolia campbellii'', or Campbell's magnolia, is a species of '' Magnolia'' that grows in sheltered valleys in the Himalaya from eastern Nepal, Sikkim and Assam, India, east to southwestern China (southern Xizang, Yunnan, southern Sichuan) an ...
,
Michelia doltsopa ''Michelia'' is a historical genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Magnoliaceae. The genus included about 50 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, native to tropical and subtropical south and southeast Asia (Indomalaya), including sou ...
,'' andromeda ('' Pieris ovalifolia''), ''
Daphniphyllum himalense ''Daphniphyllum'' is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Daphniphyllaceae and was described as a genus in 1826. The genus includes evergreen shrubs and trees mainly native to east and southeast Asia, but also found in the Indian Subconti ...
,
Acer campbellii ''Acer campbellii'', commonly known as Campbell's maple or Himalayan maple, is a species of maple tree indigenous to mixed forests at altitudes of in Bhutan, northern India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam, as well as southern Sichuan, southern Tibe ...
, Acer pectinatum'', and ''
Sorbus cuspidata ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' ('' s.str.'') are commonly known as rowan or mountain-ash. The genus used to include species commonly known as whitebeam, chequer t ...
'', but these species do not extend toward the west beyond central Nepal. Nepalese alder (''Alnus nepalensis''), a pioneer tree species, grows gregariously and forms pure patches of forests on newly exposed slopes, in gullies, beside rivers, and in other moist places. The common forest types of this zone include ''Rhododendron arboreum, Rhododendron barbatum, Lyonia'' spp., ''
Pieris formosa ''Pieris formosa'', called the Taiwan pieris or the Himalayan andromeda, is a species of flowering plant in the genus '' Pieris'' native to Nepal, the eastern Himalaya, Assam in India, Myanmar, Vietnam, Tibet, central and southern China, but not ...
;
Tsuga dumosa ''Tsuga dumosa'', commonly called the Himalayan hemlock or in Chinese, Yunnan tieshan (), is a species of conifer native to the eastern Himalayas. It occurs in parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Tibet. Within its native range t ...
'' forest with such deciduous taxa as maple ('' Acer'') and ''Magnolia''; deciduous mixed broadleaved forest of ''Acer campbellii, Acer pectinatum, Sorbus cuspidata'', and ''
Magnolia campbellii ''Magnolia campbellii'', or Campbell's magnolia, is a species of '' Magnolia'' that grows in sheltered valleys in the Himalaya from eastern Nepal, Sikkim and Assam, India, east to southwestern China (southern Xizang, Yunnan, southern Sichuan) an ...
''; mixed broadleaved forest of ''Rhododendron arboreum, Acer campbellii,
Symplocos ramosissima ''Symplocos'' is a genus of flowering plants in the order Ericales. It contains about 300 species distributed in Asia and the Americas. Many species grow in humid tropical regions. This is sometimes considered to be the only genus in family Sympl ...
'' and Lauraceae. This zone is habitat for many other important tree and large shrub species such as pindrow fir (''
Abies pindrow ''Abies pindrow'', the pindrow fir, West Himalayan fir, or silver fir, is a fir native to the western Himalaya and adjacent mountains, from northeast Afghanistan east through northern Pakistan and India to central Nepal. Description It is a ...
''), East Himalayan fir (''
Abies spectabilis ''Abies spectabilis'', the East Himalayan fir, is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae and the genus ''Abies''. It is sometimes held to include the Bhutan fir (''A. densa'') as a variety. It is found in Afghanistan, China (Tibet), northern ...
''), ''Acer campbellii, Acer pectinatum,'' Himalayan birch (''
Betula utilis ''Betula utilis'', the Himalayan birch (''bhojpatra'', ''bhūrjá''), is a deciduous tree native to the Western Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The Latin specific epithet ''utilis'' means "useful", and refers to the many uses of the dif ...
''), ''
Betula alnoides ''Betula alnoides'' (; , , literally: "tiger power") is a species of birch that is native to countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam, at elevations of and higher in some cases (u ...
,'' boxwood ('' Buxus rugulosa''), Himalayan flowering dogwood (''
Cornus capitata ''Cornus capitata'' is a species of dogwood known by the common names Bentham's cornel, evergreen dogwood, Himalayan flowering dogwood, and Himalayan strawberry-tree. It is native to the low-elevation woodlands of the Himalayas in China, India, ...
''), hazel ('' Corylus ferox''), ''
Deutzia staminea, ''Deutzia'' ( or ) is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the family Hydrangeaceae, native to eastern and central Asia (from the Himalayas east to Japan and the Philippines), and Central America and also Europe. By far the highest ...
'' spindle ('' Euonymus tingens''), Siberian ginseng (''
Acanthopanax cissifolius ''Eleutherococcus'' is a genus of 38 species,p.40, citing Frodin, Govaerts 2003 of thorny shrubs and trees in the family Araliaceae. They are native to eastern Asia, from southeast Siberia and Japan to the Philippines and Vietnam. 18 species come ...
''), '' Coriaria terminalis'' ash (''
Fraxinus macrantha ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some subtropical species are evergr ...
''), ''
Dodecadenia grandiflora ''Dodecadenia'' is a genus, botanical genus of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae. It contains a single species, ''Dodecadenia grandiflora''.
, Eurya cerasifolia, Hydrangea heteromala,
Ilex dipyrena ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen or ...
'', privet (''
Ligustrum A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each ...
'' spp.), '' Litsea elongata'', common walnut (''
Juglans regia ''Juglans regia'', known by various common names including the common walnut, English walnut, or Persian walnut amongst other names, is a species of walnut. It is native to Eurasia in at least southwest and central Asia and southeast Europe, ...
''), '' Lichelia doltsopa, Myrsine capitallata,
Neolitsea umbrosa ''Neolitsea'' is a genus of about 85 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the laurel family Lauraceae. They range from Indo-Malaysia to East Asia to Australia. The leaves are alternate, clustered, or verticillate, rarely subopposite. Sp ...
,'' mock-orange ('' Philadelphus tomentosus''), sweet olive (''
Osmanthus fragrans ''Osmanthus fragrans'' (), variously known as sweet osmanthus, sweet olive, tea olive, and fragrant olive, is a flowering plant species native to Asia from the Himalayas through the provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan in China, Taiwan, souther ...
''), Himalayan bird cherry (''
Prunus cornuta ''Prunus cornuta'', the Himalayan bird cherry, is a species of bird cherry native to the foothills of the Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tib ...
''), and ''
Viburnum continifolium ''Viburnum'' is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. The memb ...
''. In ancient times, laurel forests (''shoyojurin'') were the predominant vegetation type in the
Taiheiyo evergreen forests The Taiheiyo evergreen forests is a temperate broadleaf forest ecoregion of Japan. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of on the Pacific ''(Taiheiyo)'' side of the islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It also includes Tsushima Island in ...
ecoregion of Japan, which encompasses the mild temperate climate region of southeastern Japan's Pacific coast. There were three main types of evergreen broadleaf forests, in which ''Castanopsis'', ''
Machilus ''Machilus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae. It is found in temperate, subtropical, and tropical forest, occurring in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indochina, the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Phili ...
'', or ''Quercus'' predominated. Most of these forests were logged or cleared for cultivation and replanted with faster-growing
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, like
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
or
hinoki ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; or , ) is a species of cypress native to central Japan in East Asia, and widely cultivated in the temperate northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and ornamental qu ...
, and only a few pockets remain.


Laurel forest ecoregions in East Asia

*
Changjiang Plain evergreen forests The Changjiang Plain evergreen forests ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0415) covers the plain of the Yangtze River (Changjiang) from where it leaves the mountains at the Three Gorges in the west, to the mouth of the Yangtze at the East China Sea. This plain ...
(
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
) *
Chin Hills–Arakan Yoma montane forests The Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in western Myanmar (Burma). Surrounded at lower elevations by moist tropical forests, this ecoregion is home to a diverse range of subtrop ...
(
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
) *
Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests The Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests is a temperate broadleaf forest ecoregion found in the middle elevations of the eastern Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. These forests have an outstanding richness of wi ...
(
Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
) *
Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests The Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests are a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungui Plateau of China. Much of the original forest has been replaced by secondary forest ...
(
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
) *
Jiang Nan subtropical evergreen forests The Jiang Nan subtropical evergreen forests ecoregion (WWF ID: IM0118) covers the mountainous divide between the lower Yangtze River and the coastal plain of South China. The region is also a climatic divide between the temperate valleys of the no ...
(
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
) *
Nihonkai evergreen forests The Nihonkai evergreen forests ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0427) covers a thin strip of land on the western coast (facing the Sea of Japan) of the island of Honshu in Japan. It is bounded on the east by the Nihonkai montane deciduous forests ecoregion. ...
(
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
) *
Northern Annamites rain forests The Northern Annamites rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID: IM0136) covers the rugged and relatively unexplored northern Annamite Mountains of central Laos and Vietnam. There are high numbers of endemic plant species, and the relative remoteness and ...
(
Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
,
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
) *
Northern Indochina subtropical forests The Northern Indochina subtropical forests are a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of northern Indochina, covering portions of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and China's Yunnan Province. Setting The Northern Indochina subtropical ...
(China, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, Vietnam) * Northern Triangle subtropical forests (Myanmar) *
South China–Vietnam subtropical evergreen forests The South China-Vietnam subtropical evergreen forests ecoregion (WWF ID: IM0149) covers the mountainous coastal region of southeastern China and northeastern Vietnam. The ecoregional also covers the coastal plain along the South China Sea and Hain ...
(China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau) *
Southern Korea evergreen forests The Southern Korea evergreen forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion at the southern end of the Korean Peninsula. Geography The Southern Korea evergreen forests occupy an area of in South Korea, at the southern margin of t ...
(
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
) *
Taiheiyo evergreen forests The Taiheiyo evergreen forests is a temperate broadleaf forest ecoregion of Japan. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of on the Pacific ''(Taiheiyo)'' side of the islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It also includes Tsushima Island in ...
(Japan) *
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 ...
(
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
)


Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines

Laurel forests occupy the humid tropical highlands of the
Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...
,
Greater Sunda Islands The Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesian language, Indonesian and Malay language, Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and S ...
, and Philippines above elevation. The flora of these forests is similar to that of the warm-temperate and subtropical laurel forests of East Asia, including oaks ''(
Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
)'', tanoak ''(
Lithocarpus ''Lithocarpus'' is a genus in the beech family, Fagaceae. Trees in this genus are commonly known as the stone oaks and differ from ''Quercus'' primarily because they produce insect-pollinated flowers on erect spikes and the female flowers hav ...
)'', chinquapin ''(
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 ...
)'', Lauraceae,
Theaceae Theaceae (), the tea family, is a family of flowering plants comprising shrubs and trees, including the economically important tea plant, and the ornamental camellias. It can be described as having from seven to 40 genera, depending on the sour ...
, and
Clethraceae The Clethraceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, composed of two genera, '' Clethra'' and '' Purdiaea'', with approximately 75 species. They are native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia and the Americas, w ...
.
Epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...
s, including orchids, ferns, moss, lichen, and liverworts, are more abundant than in either temperate laurel forests or the adjacent lowland tropical rain forests.
Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...
are common at lower elevations, and conifers and rhododendrons at higher elevations. These forests are distinct in species composition from the lowland tropical forests, which are dominated by
Dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...
s and other tropical species.


Laurel forest ecoregions of Sundaland, Wallacea, and the Philippines

*
Borneo montane rain forests The Borneo montane rain forests is an ecoregion on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It includes montane tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, also known as a cloud forests. The ecoregion is partly in East Malaysia (Sabah and S ...
*
Eastern Java–Bali montane rain forests Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
* Luzon montane rain forests *
Mindanao montane rain forests The Mindanao montane rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID:IM0128) covers the montane forests - the zone between the lowland forest and the treeline - in the mountains on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Because the ecoregion covers only eleva ...
*
Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests The Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests is an ecoregion on the Malay Peninsula. It occupies the mountainous spine of the peninsula in Malaysia and southernmost Thailand. It is in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. ...
* Sulawesi montane rain forests *
Sumatran montane rain forests The Sumatran montane rain forests ecoregion (WWF ID: IM0159) covers the mountainous elevations (greater than 1,000 meters) of the Barisan Mountains Range that runs the length of the southwestern side of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The eco ...
* Western Java montane rain forests


Macaronesia and the Mediterranean Basin

Laurel forests are found in the islands of
Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...
in the eastern Atlantic, in particular the
Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...
,
Madeira Islands Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of the Canary Islands, Spain, wes ...
, and
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
from 400 to 1200 metres elevation. Trees of the genera ''
Apollonias ''Apollonias'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes from zero to 10 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, depending on circumscription. Recent studies transferred the majority of species t ...
'' (
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...
), ''
Ocotea ''Ocotea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves. There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of ...
'' (
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...
), ''
Persea ''Persea'' is a genus of about 111 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The best-known member of the genus is the avocado, ''P. americana'', widely cultivated in subtropical regions for its large, edible fruit. O ...
'' (
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...
), ''
Clethra ''Clethra'' is a genus of flowering shrubs or small trees described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.Clethraceae The Clethraceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Ericales, composed of two genera, '' Clethra'' and '' Purdiaea'', with approximately 75 species. They are native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia and the Americas, w ...
), '' Dracaena'' (
Asparagaceae Asparagaceae (), known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. This family includes both ...
), ''
Picconia Picconia is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, found in the laurel forests habitat of Macaronesia. Description They are evergreen shrubs to trees with large, opposite, entire, shiny, ovoid leaves and numerous flo ...
'' (
Oleaceae Oleaceae, also known as the olive family or sometimes the lilac family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales. It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Gree ...
) and '' Heberdenia'' (
Primulaceae The Primulaceae ( ), commonly known as the primrose family (but not related to the Onagraceae, evening primrose family), are a family (biology), family of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous and woody flowering plants including some favourite garden pla ...
) are characteristic.Madeira Laurel Forest
Madeira Wind Birds 2005
The
Garajonay National Park Garajonay National Park (, ) is located in the center and north of the island of La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). It was declared a national park in 1981 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. It occupies 40 km2 (15 sq m ...
, on the island of
La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...
and the Laurisilva in the
Madeira Island Madeira is a Portuguese island, and is the largest and most populous of the Madeira Archipelago. It has an area of , including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest). As of 2021, Madeira had a total population o ...
were designated
World Heritage sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
in 1986 and 1999, respectively. They are considered the best remaining examples of the Atlantic laurel forest, due to their intact nature. The paleobotanical record of the island of Madeira reveals that laurisilva forests have existed on this island for at least 1.8 million years. Around 50 million years ago, during the
Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...
, Europe took the form of a set of large islands spread through what was the
Tethys Sea The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...
. The climate was wet and
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
with monsoon summer rains. Trees of the laurel and
Fagaceae The Fagaceae (; ) are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with around 1,000 or more species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species ...
family ( oaks with lauroid-shape leaves and
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 ...
) were common along several species of ferns. Around the
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
, the planet began cooling, ultimately leading to the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
glaciations. This progressively deteriorated the Paleotropical flora of Europe, which went extinct in the late
Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Ocotea ''Ocotea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves. There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of ...
''), or in other continents (e.g. ''
Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
'', ''
Liquidambar ''Liquidambar'', commonly called sweetgum (star gum in the UK), gum, redgum, satin-walnut, styrax or American storax, is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated as a part of ...
'') and some adapted to the cooler and drier climate of Europe and persisted as relicts in places with high mean annual precipitation or in particular river basins, such as sweet bay ''(
Laurus nobilis ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...
)'' and European holly ''(
Ilex aquifolium ''Ilex aquifolium'', the holly, common holly, English holly, European holly, or occasionally Christmas holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest As ...
)'', which are fairly widespread around the Mediterranean basin. Descendants of these species can be found today in Europe, throughout the Mediterranean, especially in the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
and the southern
Black Sea Basin The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turk ...
. The most important is
ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...
, a climber or vine that is well represented in most of Europe, where it spread again after the glaciations. The portuguese laurel cherry (''
Prunus lusitanica ''Prunus lusitanica'', the Portuguese laurel cherry or Portugal laurel, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, the Macaronesian archipelagos, and the French Basque Country.Euro+Med ...
'') is the only tree that survives as a relict in some
Iberian Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to: *Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...
riversides, especially in the western part of the peninsula. In other cases, the presence of Mediterranean laurel (''
Laurus nobilis ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...
'') provides an indication of the previous existence of laurel forest. This species survives natively in
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
,
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
,
Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean islands. The myrtle spread through North Africa.
Tree heath ''Erica arborea'', the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also cultivated as an or ...
''(Erica arborea)'' grows in southern Europe, but without reaching the dimensions observed in the temperate evergreen forest of Macaronesia or North Africa. The broad-leaved ''
Rhododendron ponticum ''Rhododendron ponticum'', called common rhododendron or pontic rhododendron, is a species of flowering plant in the ''Rhododendron'' genus of the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to the Iberian Peninsula in southwest Europe and the Caucasus ...
baeticum'' and/or ''
Rhamnus frangula ''Frangula alnus'', commonly known as alder buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, or breaking buckthorn, is a tall deciduous shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. Unlike other "buckthorns", alder buckthorn does not have thorns. It is native to Europe, northern ...
baetica'' still persist in humid microclimates, such as stream valleys, in the provinces of
Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...
and
Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, in the Portuguese
Serra de Monchique The Serra de Monchique (Monchique Range) is a chain of mountains in the western part of the Algarve region of Portugal, about 20 km inshore. The chain's highest point is the peak of Fóia, at 902 m. 774 m high Picota is another notable peak. ...
, and the
Rif Mountains The Rif (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people. ...
of
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. The
Parque Natural de Los Alcornocales Los Alcornocales Natural Park (in Spanish, Parque natural de Los Alcornocales) is a natural park located in the south of Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia; it is shared between the Province of Cádiz and Málaga. The natural park o ...
has the biggest and best preserved relicts of Laurisilva in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
. Although the Atlantic laurisilva is more abundant in the Macaronesian archipelagos, where the weather has fluctuated little since the
Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...
, there are small representations and some species contribution to the oceanic and Mediterranean ecoregions of Europe,
Asia minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
and west and north of Africa, where microclimates in the coastal mountain ranges form inland "islands" favorable to the persistence of laurel forests. In some cases these were genuine islands in the Tertiary, and in some cases simply areas that remained ice-free. When the
Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...
reclosed, the species repopulated toward the Iberian Peninsula to the north and were distributed along with other African species, but the seasonally drier and colder climate, prevented them reaching their previous extent. In Atlantic Europe, subtropical vegetation is interspersed with taxa from Europe and North Africa in bioclimatic enclaves such as the Serra de Monchique,
Sintra Sintra (, ), officially the Town of Sintra (), is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2021 was 385,654, in an area of . Sintra is one of the ...
, and the coastal mountains from Cadiz to
Algeciras Algeciras () is a city and a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of G ...
. In the Mediterranean region, remnant laurel forest is present on some islands of the
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...
, on the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
coast of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
and
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, and the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
coast of
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
and
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, including the ''
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 ...
'' and true ''laurus'' forests, associated with ''
Prunus laurocerasus ''Prunus laurocerasus'', also known as cherry laurel, common laurel and sometimes English laurel in North America, is an evergreen species of cherry (''Prunus''), native to regions bordering the Black Sea in southwestern Asia and southeastern Eur ...
'', and conifers such as ''
Taxus baccata ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family (botany), family Taxaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, as well as Northwest Africa, and parts of Southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Bri ...
'', ''
Cedrus atlantica ''Cedrus atlantica'', the Atlas cedar, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae, native to the Rif and Atlas Mountains of Morocco ( Middle Atlas, High Atlas), and to the Tell Atlas in Algeria.Gaussen, H. (1964). Genre ''Cedrus''. Les F ...
'', and ''
Abies pinsapo ''Abies pinsapo'', Spanish fir, is a species of tree in the family Pinaceae, native to southern Spain and northern Morocco. Related to other species of Mediterranean firs, it appears at altitudes of in the Sierra de Grazalema in the Province of ...
''. In Europe the laurel forest has been badly damaged by timber harvesting, by fire (both accidental and deliberate to open fields for crops), by the introduction of exotic animal and plant species that have displaced the original cover, and by replacement with arable fields, exotic timber plantations, cattle pastures, and
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...
s and tourist facilities. Most of the biota is in serious danger of extinction. The laurel forest flora is usually strong and vigorous and the forest regenerates easily; its decline is due to external forces.


Laurel forest ecoregions of Macaronesia

*
Azores temperate mixed forests The Azores temperate mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of southwestern Europe. It encompasses the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. These volcanic islands are an autonomous region of Portugal, and lie 1500& ...
* Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests *
Madeira evergreen forests The Madeira evergreen forests is a laurissilva ecoregion of southwestern Europe. It covers the archipelago of Madeira and some nearby islands ( Desertas and Selvagens) in the Atlantic Ocean. Laurel forest, known as Laurisilva of Madeira, once ...


Nepal

In the Himalayas, in Nepal, subtropical forest consists of species such as ''
Schima wallichii ''Schima wallichii'', commonly known as the needlewood or Chinese guger tree, is a species of evergreen tree in the tea family, Theaceae. ''Schima wallichii'' is native to a wide area of China and tropical Asia. It grows tall. File:Chilaune.j ...
'', ''
Castanopsis indica ''Castanopsis indica'' is a tree in the family Fagaceae. Description ''Castanopsis indica'' is a tallish tree, growing up around in height with a dense, full crown. The leaves are thick and leathery with a serrated edge. They are oblong and ell ...
'', and ''
Castanopsis tribuloides ''Castanopsis tribuloides'' is a species of flowering plant in the beech family Fagaceae The Fagaceae (; ) are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with around 1,000 or more specie ...
'' in relatively humid areas. Some common forest types in this region include ''Castanopsis tribuloides'' mixed with ''
Schima wallichi ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...
,
Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...
'' spp., ''
Lyonia ovalifolia ''Lyonia ovalifolia'' is a species of plant in the family Ericaceae. This plant is Native to Himalaya, Nepal, China, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. It is known as Anyaar in India and Angeri in Nepal. Poisoning One ca ...
, Eurya acuminata'', and ''
Quercus 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 ...
''; ''Castanopsis''-Laurales forest with '' Symplocas'' spp.; ''
Alnus nepalensis ''Alnus nepalensis'' is a large alder tree found in the subtropical highlands of the Himalayas. The tree is called Utis in Nepali and Nepalese alder in English. It is used in land reclamation, as firewood and for making charcoal. Descriptio ...
'' forests; ''
Schima wallichii ''Schima wallichii'', commonly known as the needlewood or Chinese guger tree, is a species of evergreen tree in the tea family, Theaceae. ''Schima wallichii'' is native to a wide area of China and tropical Asia. It grows tall. File:Chilaune.j ...
-
Castanopsis indica ''Castanopsis indica'' is a tree in the family Fagaceae. Description ''Castanopsis indica'' is a tallish tree, growing up around in height with a dense, full crown. The leaves are thick and leathery with a serrated edge. They are oblong and ell ...
'' hygrophile forest; ''Schima-Pinus'' forest; ''
Pinus roxburghii ''Pinus roxburghii'', commonly known as chir pine or longleaf Indian pine, is a species of pine tree Native plant, native to the Himalayas. It was named after William Roxburgh. Description ''Pinus roxburghii'' is a large tree reaching with a ...
'' forests with ''
Phyllanthus emblica ''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, nelikai, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, amloki or amla, is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Asia. Descript ...
. Semicarpus anacardium'', ''
Rhododendron arboreum ''Rhododendron arboreum'', the tree rhododendron, is an evergreen shrub or small tree with a showy display of bright red flowers. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand. It is the national flower of ...
'' and '' Lyoma ovalifolia;
Schima ''Schima'' is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the tea family, Theaceae. The genus inhabits warm temperate to subtropical climates across southern and southeastern Asia, from the eastern Himalaya of Nepal and eastern India across Indochin ...
-
Lagerstroemia parviflora ''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia ...
'' forest, ''
Quercus lamellosa ''Quercus lamellosa'' (syn. ''Cyclobalanopsis lamellosa'') is a species of oak (''Quercus'') native to the Himalaya and adjoining mountains from Tibet and Nepal east as far as Guangxi and northern Thailand, growing at altitudes of 1300–2500 m. ...
'' forest with ''
Quercus lanata ''Quercus lanata'', the woolly-leaved oak, is a species of ''Quercus'' native to southern and southeastern Asia, including India (from eastern Uttarakhand to Arunachal Pradesh), Bhutan, Nepal, Indochina (Vietnam, Myanmar, northern Thailand), and ...
'' and ''
Quercus 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 ...
''; ''
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 with '' Castanopsis hystrix'' and Lauraceae.


Southern India

Laurel forests are also prevalent in the montane rain forests of the Western Ghats in southern
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.


Sri Lanka

Laurel forest occurs in the montane rain forest of
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
.


Africa

The
Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions o ...
laurel forests describe the plant and animal species common to the mountains of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and the southern
Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...
. The afromontane regions of Africa are discontinuous, separated from each other by lowlands, resembling a series of islands in distribution. Patches of forest with Afromontane floristic affinities occur all along the mountain chains. Afromontane communities occur above elevation near the equator, and as low as elevation in the Knysna-Amatole montane forests of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. Afromontane forests are cool and humid. Rainfall is generally greater than , and can exceed in some regions, occurring throughout the year or during winter or summer, depending on the region. Temperatures can be extreme at some of the higher altitudes, where snowfalls may occasionally occur. In
Subsaharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territ ...
, laurel forests are found in the
Cameroon Highlands forests The Cameroonian Highlands forests, also known as the Cameroon Highlands forests, is a montane tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion located on the range of mountains that runs inland from the Gulf of Guinea and forms the border between Camero ...
along the border of
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
and
Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
, along the East African Highlands, a long chain of mountains extending from the
Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , whil ...
around the
African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...
to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, in the Highlands of
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
, and in the montane zone of the
São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón forests The São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón forests, also known as the São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón moist lowland forests, is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion that covers the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, which form the islan ...
. These scattered highland laurophyll forests of Africa are similar to one another in species composition (known as the
Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions o ...
flora), and distinct from the flora of the surrounding lowlands. The main species of the Afromontane forests include the broadleaf canopy trees of genus ''
Beilschmiedia ''Beilschmiedia'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in family Lauraceae. Most of its species grow in tropical climates, but a few of them are native to temperate regions, and they are widespread in tropical Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Z ...
'', with ''
Apodytes dimidiata ''Apodytes dimidiata'' (white pear or umDakane) is a bushy tree with white flowers bearing a fragrance reminiscent of fresh coconut, and small black and red fruits. It is usually about 5 m tall (but reaches a height of 20 m when growing ...
'', ''
Ilex mitis ''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straig ...
'', ''
Nuxia congesta ''Nuxia congesta'', commonly known as brittle-wood, is a species of tree in the Stilbaceae family, with an extensive range in the Afrotropics. The species is named ''congesta'' for its dense inflorescences. Range The species is native to Eswati ...
'', '' N. floribunda'', ''
Kiggelaria africana ''Kiggelaria africana'' (also known as the wild peach or umKokoko) is a large, robust, low-branching African tree, and is currently the only accepted species in the genus ''Kiggelaria''. Despite its common name, ''Kiggelaria africana'' is not re ...
'', ''
Prunus africana ''Prunus africana'', the African cherry, has a wide distribution in Africa, occurring in montane regions of central and southern Africa and on the islands of Bioko, São-Tomé, Grande Comore, and Madagascar. It can be found at above sea level. I ...
'', ''
Rapanea melanophloeos ''Myrsine melanophloeos'', commonly known as Cape beech, Kaapse boekenhout (Afrikaans), isiCalabi (Zulu language, Zulu) or isiQwane sehlati (Xhosa language, Xhosa) is a dense evergreen tree that is native to the Afromontane, afromontane forests o ...
'', ''
Halleria lucida ''Halleria lucida'' (also known as tree fuchsia, umBinza or notsung) is a small, attractive, Evergreen, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Southern Africa. It is increasingly grown as an ornamental tree in African gardens. Appearance This tre ...
'', ''
Ocotea bullata ''Ocotea bullata'', (stinkwood or black stinkwood, , , ) is a species of flowering tree native to South Africa. It produces very fine and valuable timber which was formerly much sought after to make furniture. Due to over-exploitation it is now ...
'', and ''
Xymalos monospora ''Xymalos monospora'' (plant family Monimiaceae), commonly known as lemonwood, is a species of evergreen tree native to Africa, the only species in the genus ''Xymalos''. It is an Afromontane endemic, and can be found from 900 to 2700 meters elev ...
'', along with the emergent conifers ''
Podocarpus latifolius ''Podocarpus latifolius'' (real yellowwood, broad-leaved yellowwood, or South African yellowwood, , , , ) is a large evergreen tree up to 35 m high and 3 m trunk diameter, in the conifer family Podocarpaceae; it is the type species of t ...
'' and ''
Afrocarpus falcatus ''Afrocarpus falcatus'' ( syn. ''Podocarpus falcatus'') is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is native to the montane forests of southern Africa, where it is distributed in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Eswatini. Common na ...
''. Species composition of the Subsaharan laurel forests differs from that of Eurasia. Trees of the
Laurel family Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide. They are dicotyledons, and occur mainly in warm temperate and tr ...
are less prominent, limited to ''
Ocotea ''Ocotea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves. There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of ...
'' or ''
Beilschmiedia ''Beilschmiedia'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in family Lauraceae. Most of its species grow in tropical climates, but a few of them are native to temperate regions, and they are widespread in tropical Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Z ...
'' due to exceptional
biological Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...
and paleoecological interest and the enormous
biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
mostly but with many endemic species, and the members of the beech family (Fagaceae) are absent. Trees can be up to tall and distinct strata of emergent trees, canopy trees, and shrub and herb layers are present. Tree species include: Real Yellowwood (''
Podocarpus latifolius ''Podocarpus latifolius'' (real yellowwood, broad-leaved yellowwood, or South African yellowwood, , , , ) is a large evergreen tree up to 35 m high and 3 m trunk diameter, in the conifer family Podocarpaceae; it is the type species of t ...
''), Outeniqua Yellowwood (''
Podocarpus falcatus ''Afrocarpus falcatus'' ( syn. ''Podocarpus falcatus'') is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is native to the montane forests of southern Africa, where it is distributed in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Eswatini. Common na ...
''), White Witchhazel (''
Trichocladus ellipticus ''Trichocladus ellipticus'' is a species in the genus ''Trichocladus'', in the family Hamamelidaceae. It is also called white witch-hazel.Coates-Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates-Palgrave "Trees of Southern Africa", edn 3, imp. 4. Random House Str ...
''), '' Rhus chirendensis'', ''
Curtisia dentata ''Curtisia dentata'' (commonly known as the Assegai tree or Cape lancewood, , , ) is a flowering tree from Southern Africa. It is the sole species in genus ''Curtisia'', which was originally classed as a type of "dogwood" (''Cornaceae''), but i ...
'', ''
Calodendrum capense ''Calodendrum capense'', the Cape chestnut, is an African tree which was first studied at The Cape in South Africa and cultivated widely for its prolific flower display. The tree obtained the common name of "Cape chestnut" because explorer Willi ...
'', ''
Apodytes dimidiata ''Apodytes dimidiata'' (white pear or umDakane) is a bushy tree with white flowers bearing a fragrance reminiscent of fresh coconut, and small black and red fruits. It is usually about 5 m tall (but reaches a height of 20 m when growing ...
'', ''
Halleria lucida ''Halleria lucida'' (also known as tree fuchsia, umBinza or notsung) is a small, attractive, Evergreen, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Southern Africa. It is increasingly grown as an ornamental tree in African gardens. Appearance This tre ...
'', ''
Ilex mitis ''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straig ...
'', ''
Kiggelaria africana ''Kiggelaria africana'' (also known as the wild peach or umKokoko) is a large, robust, low-branching African tree, and is currently the only accepted species in the genus ''Kiggelaria''. Despite its common name, ''Kiggelaria africana'' is not re ...
'', ''
Nuxia floribunda ''Nuxia floribunda'', the forest elder, forest nuxia or wild elder, is a species of tree in the Stilbaceae family, that is native to moist regions of southern Africa, East Africa and central tropical Africa. Description It usually grows to bet ...
'', ''
Xymalos monospora ''Xymalos monospora'' (plant family Monimiaceae), commonly known as lemonwood, is a species of evergreen tree native to Africa, the only species in the genus ''Xymalos''. It is an Afromontane endemic, and can be found from 900 to 2700 meters elev ...
'', and ''
Ocotea bullata ''Ocotea bullata'', (stinkwood or black stinkwood, , , ) is a species of flowering tree native to South Africa. It produces very fine and valuable timber which was formerly much sought after to make furniture. Due to over-exploitation it is now ...
''. Shrubs and climbers are common and include: Common Spikethorn ('' Maytenus heterophylla''), Cat-thorn (''
Scutia myrtina ''Scutia myrtina'' is a species of plant in the family Rhamnaceae. It is commonly known as cat-thorn. Description ''Scutia myrtina'' is a variable plant that may grow as a shrub or tree of 2-10 m tall with a trunk diameter of 30 cm or ...
''), Numnum (''
Carissa bispinosa ''Carissa bispinosa'' grows as a shrub or small tree up to tall. Its fragrant flowers feature a white corolla. The fruit is red when ripe. Its habitat is woodland and forest from to elevation. Vernacular names for the plant include forest num ...
''), ''
Secamone alpinii ''Secamone'' is a genus of plant in family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1810. It is widespread across much of Africa, northern Australia, southern Asia, with numerous species endemic to Madagascar.Gibbs Russell, G. E., W. G. M. Welm ...
'', ''
Canthium ciliatum ''Canthium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs and small trees. The leaves are deciduous and the stems are usually thorny. Distribution ''Canthium'' species were predominantly found in Southeast Asia, espe ...
'', ''
Rhoicissus tridentata ''Rhoicissus tridentata'' is a climbing plant in the family Vitaceae The Vitaceae are a family of flowering plants, with 14 genera and around 910 known species, including common plants such as Vitis, grapevines (''Vitis'' spp.) and Parthenociss ...
'', '' Zanthoxylum capense'', and '' Burchellia bubalina''. In the undergrowth grasses, herbs and ferns may be locally common: Basketgrass (''
Oplismenus hirtellus ''Oplismenus hirtellus'', commonly known as basket grass, is a species of flowering perennial plant from the family Poaceae that can be found on every continent in the world except Antarctica, growing mostly in coastal tropic and subtropic regio ...
''), Bushman Grass (''
Stipa dregeana ''Stipa dregeana'' is a species of grass. It is a perennial native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces o ...
'' var. ''elongata''), Pigs-ears (''
Centella asiatica ''Centella asiatica'', commonly known as Indian pennywort, Asiatic pennywort, spadeleaf, coinwort or gotu kola, is a herbaceous, perennial plant in the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, ...
''), ''
Cyperus albostriatus ''Cyperus albostriatus'' is a species of sedge that is native to southern parts of Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square mi ...
'', ''
Polypodium polypodioides ''Polypodium'' is a genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae, subfamily Polypodioideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). The genus is widely distributed throughout the world, with the highest s ...
'', '' Polystichum tuctuosum'', ''
Streptocarpus rexii ''Streptocarpus rexii'' is a South African plant in the family Gesneriaceae, occurring widely from the southern Cape along the coastal hills, mountains, wooded ravines and valleys, and moist forests of the east coast, through Natal as far north ...
'', and ''
Plectranthus ''Plectranthus'' is a genus of about 85 species of flowering plants from the sage family, Lamiaceae, found mostly in southern and tropical Africa and Madagascar. Common names include spur-flower. ''Plectranthus'' species are herbaceous perennial ...
'' spp. Ferns, shrubs and small trees such as
Cape Beech ''Myrsine melanophloeos'', commonly known as Cape beech, Kaapse boekenhout (Afrikaans), isiCalabi ( Zulu) or isiQwane sehlati (Xhosa) is a dense evergreen tree that is native to the afromontane forests of Africa, ranging from Nigeria and Sudan to ...
(''
Rapanea melanophloeos ''Myrsine melanophloeos'', commonly known as Cape beech, Kaapse boekenhout (Afrikaans), isiCalabi (Zulu language, Zulu) or isiQwane sehlati (Xhosa language, Xhosa) is a dense evergreen tree that is native to the Afromontane, afromontane forests o ...
'') are often abundant along the forest edges.


Southeast United States

According to the recent study by Box and Fujiwara (Evergreen Broadleaved Forests of the Southeastern United States: Preliminary Description), laurel forests occur in patches in the southeastern United States from southeast
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
southward to
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, and west to
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, mostly along the coast and coastal plain of the Gulf and south Atlantic coast. In the southeastern United States, evergreen Hammock (ecology) (i.e. topographically induced forest islands) contain many laurel forests. These laurel forests occur mostly in moist depression and floodplains, and are found in moist environments. In many portions of the coastal plain, a low-lying mosaic topography of white sand, silt, and limestone (mostly in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
), separate these laurel forests. Frequent fire is also thought to be responsible for the disjointed geography of laurel forests across the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. Despite being located in a humid climate zone, much of the broadleaf Laurel forests in the Southeast USA are semi-
sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...
in character. The semi-sclerophyll character is due (in part) to the sandy soils and often periodic semi-arid nature of the climate. As one moves south into central Florida, as well as far southern Texas and the Gulf Coastal margin of the southern United States, the sclerophyll character slowly declines and more tree species from the tropics (specifically, the Caribbean and Mesoamerica) increase as the temperate species decline. As such, the southeastern laurel forests gives way to a mixed landscape of tropical savanna and tropical rainforest. There are several different broadleaved evergreen canopy trees in the laurel forests of the southeastern United States. In some areas, the evergreen forests are dominated by species of Live oak (''Quercus virginiana''), Laurel oak (''Quercus hemisphaerica''), southern magnolia (''Magnolia grandiflora''), red bay (''Persea borbonia''), cabbage palm (''Sabal palmetto''), and sweetbay magnolia (''Magnolia virginiana''). In several areas on the barrier islands, a stunted ''Quercus geminata'' or mixed ''Q. geminata'' and ''Quercus virginiana'' forest dominates, with a dense evergreen understory of scrub palm ''Serenoa repens'' and a variety of vines, including ''Bignonia capreolata'', as well as ''Smilax'' and ''Vitis species. ''Gordonia lasianthus'', ''Ilex opaca'' and ''Osmanthus americanus'' also may occur as canopy co-dominant in coastal dune forests, with ''Cliftonia monophylla'' and ''Vaccinium arboreum'' as a dense evergreen understory (Box and Fujiwara 1988). The lower shrub layer of the evergreen forests is often mixed with other evergreen species from the palm family (''Rhapidophyllum hystrix''), bush palmetto (''Sabal minor''), and saw palmetto (''Serenoa repens''), and several species in the Ilex family, including ''Ilex glabra'', Dahoon holly, and Yaupon holly. In many areas, ''Cyrilla racemiflora'', ''Lyonia fruticosa'', wax myrtle ''Myrica'' is present as an evergreen understory. Several species of ''Yucca'' and ''Opuntia'' are native as well to the drier sandy coastal scrub environment of the region, including ''Yucca aloifolia'', ''Yucca filamentosa'', ''Yucca gloriosa'', and ''Opuntia stricta''.


Ancient California

During the Miocene, oak-laurel forests were found in Central and Southern California. Typical tree species included oaks ancestral to present-day California oaks, as well as an assemblage of trees from the Laurel family, including ''Nectandra'', ''
Ocotea ''Ocotea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves. There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of ...
'', ''
Persea ''Persea'' is a genus of about 111 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The best-known member of the genus is the avocado, ''P. americana'', widely cultivated in subtropical regions for its large, edible fruit. O ...
'', and ''Umbellularia''. Only one native species from the Laurel family (Lauraceae), ''Umbellularia californica,'' remains in California today. There are however, several areas in Mediterranean California, as well as isolated areas of southern Oregon that have evergreen forests. Several species of evergreen ''Quercus'' forests occur, as well as a mix of evergreen scrub typical of Mediterranean climates. Species of ''Notholithocarpus'', ''Arbutus menziesii'', and ''Umbellularia californica'' can be canopy species in several areas.


Central America

The laurel forest is the most common Central American temperate evergreen cloud forest type. They are found in mountainous areas of southern Mexico and almost all Central American countries, normally more than above sea level. Tree species include evergreen oaks, members of the Laurel family, and species of ''Weinmannia'', ''Drimys'', and ''
Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
''. The cloud forest of Sierra de las Minas, Guatemala, is the largest in Central America. In some areas of southeastern Honduras there are cloud forests, the largest located near the border with Nicaragua. In Nicaragua the
cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...
s are found in the border zone with Honduras, and most were cleared to grow coffee. There are still some temperate evergreen hills in the north. The only cloud forest in the Pacific coastal zone of Central America is on the Mombacho volcano in Nicaragua. In Costa Rica there are laurisilvas in the "Cordillera de Tilarán" and Volcán Arenal, called Monteverde, also in the Cordillera de Talamanca.


Laurel forest ecoregions in Mexico and Central America

* Central American montane forests * Chiapas montane forests * Chimalapas montane forests * Oaxacan montane forests * Talamancan montane forests * Veracruz montane forests


Tropical Andes

The Yungas are typically evergreen forests or jungles, and multi-species, which often contain many species of the laurel forest. They occur discontinuously from Venezuela to northwestern
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
including in Brazil, Bolivia,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, usually in the Sub-Andean Sierras. The forest relief is varied and in places where the Andes meet the Amazon, it includes steeply sloped areas. Characteristic of this region are deep ravines formed by the rivers, such as that of the Tarma River descending to the San Ramon Valley, or the Urubamba River as it passes through Machu Picchu. Many of the Yungas are degraded or are forests in recovery that have not yet reached their climax vegetation.


Southeastern South America

The laurel forests of the region are known as the ''Laurisilva Misionera'', after Argentina's Misiones Province. The Araucaria moist forests occupy a portion of the highlands of southern Brazil, extending into northeastern Argentina. The forest canopy includes species of Lauraceae (''Ocotea pretiosa'', ''Ocotea catharinense, O. catharinense'' and ''Ocotea porosa, O. porosa''), Myrtaceae (''Campomanesia xanthocarpa''), and Leguminosae (''Parapiptadenia rigida''), with an emergent layer of the conifer Brazilian Araucaria (''Araucaria angustifolia'') reaching up to in height. The subtropical Serra do Mar coastal forests along the southern coast of Brazil have a tree canopy of Lauraceae and Myrtaceae, with emergent trees of Leguminaceae, and a rich diversity of bromeliads and trees and shrubs of family Melastomaceae. The inland Alto Paraná Atlantic forests, which occupy portions of the Brazilian Highlands in southern Brazil and adjacent parts of Argentina and Paraguay, are semi-deciduous.


Central Chile

The Valdivian temperate rain forests, or ''Laurisilva Valdiviana'', occupy southern
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
and
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes between 38° and 45° latitude. Rainfall is abundant, from according to locality, distributed throughout the year, but with some subhumid Mediterranean climate influence for 3–4 months in summer. The temperatures are sufficiently invariant and mild, with no month falling below , and the warmest month below .


Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand

Laurel forest appears on mountains of the coastal strip of New South Wales in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, New Guinea,
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. The laurel forests of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are home to species related to those in the Valdivian laurel forests, ''Beilschmiedia tawa'' is often the dominant canopy species of the laural genus ''
Beilschmiedia ''Beilschmiedia'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in family Lauraceae. Most of its species grow in tropical climates, but a few of them are native to temperate regions, and they are widespread in tropical Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Z ...
'' in lowland laurel forests in the North Island and the northeast of the South Island, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in these areas, with Podocarpaceae, podocarps. Genus ''Beilschmiedia'' are trees and shrubs widespread in tropical Asia,
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, Central America, the Caribbean, and
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
as far south as
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
. In the Corynocarpus family, ''
Corynocarpus laevigatus ''Corynocarpus laevigatus'', commonly known as karaka or the New Zealand laurel, is a medium-sized evergreen tree in the family Corynocarpaceae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is common throughout the North Island and less common in the Sou ...
'' is sometimes called laurel of New Zealand, while ''Laurelia novae-zelandiae'' belongs to the same genus as ''Laurelia sempervirens''. The tree niaouli grows in Australia, New Caledonia, and Papua. The New Guinea and Northern Australian ecoregions are also closely related.


New Guinea

The eastern end of Malesia, including New Guinea and the Aru Islands of eastern Indonesia, is linked to Australia by a shallow continental shelf, and shares many marsupial mammal and bird taxon, taxa with Australia. New Guinea also has many additional elements of the Antarctic flora, including southern beech (''Nothofagus'') and Eucalypts. New Guinea has the highest mountains in Malesia, and vegetation ranges from tropical lowland forest to tundra. The highlands of New Guinea and New Britain are home to montane laurel forests, from about elevation. These forests include species typical of both Northern Hemisphere laurel forests, including ''
Lithocarpus ''Lithocarpus'' is a genus in the beech family, Fagaceae. Trees in this genus are commonly known as the stone oaks and differ from ''Quercus'' primarily because they produce insect-pollinated flowers on erect spikes and the female flowers hav ...
,
Ilex ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen or ...
,'' and Lauraceae, and Southern Hemisphere laurel forests, including Southern Beech ''Nothofagus'', ''Araucaria'', Podocarps, and trees of the Myrtle family (
Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...
). New Guinea and Northern Australia are closely related. Around 40 million years ago, the Indo-Australian Plate, Indo-Australian tectonic plate began to split apart from the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. As it collided with the Pacific Plate on its northward journey, the high mountain ranges of central New Guinea emerged around 5 million years ago.Frith, D.W., Frith, C.B. (1995). Cape York Peninsula: A Natural History. Chatswood: Reed Books Australia. Reprinted with amendments in 2006. . In the lee of this collision zone, the ancient rock formations of what is now Cape York Peninsula remained largely undisturbed.


= Laurel forest ecoregions of New Guinea

= The World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF identifies several distinct montane laurel forest ecoregions on New Guinea, New Britain, and New Ireland.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment''. Washington, DC: Island Press. . * Central Range montane rain forests * Huon Peninsula montane rain forests * New Britain–New Ireland montane rain forests * Northern New Guinea montane rain forests * Vogelkop montane rain forests


See also

* Chaparral


References


External links

{{Authority control Forests Forest ecology Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Subtropical rainforests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Plant communities of the Eastern United States Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the United States Afromontane Palearctic ecoregions Nearctic ecoregions Atlantic Forest Lauraceae,