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 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

Parque nacional de Garajonay - bosque de laurel

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 ...

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,

, 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 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", 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'', ''

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'', '' Laureliopsis'', '' laureola'', '' laurelin'', '' laurifolia'', '' laurifolius'', '' lauriformis'', '' laurina'', '' Prunus laurocerasus'' (cherry laurel), '' Prunus lusitanica'' (Portugal laurel), '' Corynocarpus laevigatus'' (New Zealand Laurel), and '' Corynocarpus rupestris'' designate species of other plant families whose leaves resemble Lauraceae. The term "lauroid" is also applied to climbing plants such as ivies, 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", ...

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,

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 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'' 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'' 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

s, evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of

, 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 ...

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

s of the northern and southern hemispheres, in particular the

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 ...

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,

, 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

, 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 ...

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,'' tree rhododendron ('' Rhododendron arboreum''), ''

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''), ''

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, Trewia nudiflora, 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''), 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''), '' Heptapleurum venulosum, Casearia graveilens, Actinodaphne reticulata, Sapium insigne'', Nepalese alder ('' Alnus nepalensis''), 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, 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,'' 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, Hymenodictyon flaccidum, Maytenus thomsonii'', winged prickly ash ('' Zanthoxylum armatum''), '' Eurya acuminata'', matipo ('' Myrsine semiserrata''), '' Sloanea tomentosa, Hydrangea aspera,

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'' 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'' 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''), 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,'' 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 pectinatum'', and '' Sorbus cuspidata'', 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; Tsuga dumosa'' forest with such deciduous taxa as maple ('' Acer'') and ''Magnolia''; deciduous mixed broadleaved forest of ''Acer campbellii, Acer pectinatum, Sorbus cuspidata'', and ''

''; 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''), ''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,'' 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,'' spindle ('' Euonymus tingens''), Siberian ginseng ('' Acanthopanax cissifolius''), '' Coriaria terminalis'' ash ('' Fraxinus macrantha''), '' Dodecadenia grandiflora, Eurya cerasifolia, Hydrangea heteromala, Ilex dipyrena'', 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,'' 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''. 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 ...

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 (

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 ...

(

) *

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 ...

(

) *

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. ...

(

) *

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 (China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau) * Southern Korea evergreen forests (

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 ...

) *

(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 ...

(

)

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 ''(

)'', tanoak ''(

)'', chinquapin ''(

)'', Lauraceae,

, 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 * Luzon montane rain forests * Mindanao montane rain forests * Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests * Sulawesi montane rain forests * Sumatran montane rain forests * Western Java montane rain forests

Macaronesia and the Mediterranean Basin

Laurel forests are found in the islands of

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'' (

), ''

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 ...

'' (

), '' Clethra'' (

), '' 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'' (

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 ...

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

family ( oaks with lauroid-shape leaves and

) 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

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. ''

'', ''

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 ''(

)'' 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 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'') is the only tree that survives as a relict in some Iberian riversides, especially in the western part of the peninsula. In other cases, the presence of Mediterranean laurel (''

'') 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)'' 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 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 the Portuguese Serra de Monchique, 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. ...

. The Parque Natural de Los Alcornocales 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 ''

'' and true ''laurus'' forests, associated with '' Prunus laurocerasus'', 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 * Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests * Madeira evergreen forests

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'', 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., ''

, Eurya acuminata'', and ''

''; ''Castanopsis''-Laurales forest with '' Symplocas'' spp.; '' Alnus nepalensis'' forests; ''

- Castanopsis indica'' 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'' and '' Lyoma ovalifolia;

- Lagerstroemia parviflora'' forest, '' Quercus lamellosa'' forest with '' Quercus lanata'' and ''

''; ''

'' forests with '' Castanopsis hystrix'' and Lauraceae.

Southern India

Laurel forests are also prevalent in the montane rain forests of the Western Ghats in southern

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

laurel forests describe the plant and animal species common to the mountains of

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, laurel forests are found in the Cameroon Highlands forests 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

, 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 ...

, in the Highlands of

, and in the montane zone of the São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón forests. These scattered highland laurophyll forests of Africa are similar to one another in species composition (known as the

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'', '' 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'', ''

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'', 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''. 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 ''

'' or ''

'' 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 (''

''), Outeniqua Yellowwood ('' Podocarpus falcatus''), White Witchhazel ('' Trichocladus ellipticus''), '' 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'', ''

'', '' Halleria lucida'', ''

'', ''

'', '' Nuxia floribunda'', '' Xymalos monospora'', and ''

''. Shrubs and climbers are common and include: Common Spikethorn ('' Maytenus heterophylla''), Cat-thorn ('' Scutia myrtina''), 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'', '' Rhoicissus tridentata'', '' Zanthoxylum capense'', and '' Burchellia bubalina''. In the undergrowth grasses, herbs and ferns may be locally common: Basketgrass ('' Oplismenus hirtellus''), Bushman Grass ('' Stipa dregeana'' var. ''elongata''), Pigs-ears ('' Centella asiatica''), ''

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'', '' Polystichum tuctuosum'', '' Streptocarpus rexii'', 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 (''

'') 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) Hammock is a term used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands tha ...

(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 Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

(mostly in

), 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-

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 The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

) increase as the temperate species decline. As such, the southeastern laurel forests gives way to a mixed landscape of

tropical savanna Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

and

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

. 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 ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. ...

''), Laurel oak ('' Quercus hemisphaerica''), southern magnolia (''

Magnolia grandiflora ''Magnolia grandiflora'', commonly known as the southern magnolia or bull bay, is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the Southeastern United States, from Virginia to central Florida, and west to East Texas. Reaching in height, it is a ...

''), red bay (''

Persea borbonia ''Tamala borbonia'' or redbay is a small, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), native to the southeastern United States. It belongs to the genus '' Tamala'', which contains three species of evergreen trees native to the southern Unite ...

''), cabbage palm (''

Sabal palmetto ''Sabal palmetto'' (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, SAY-bəl''), also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of Saba ...

''), and sweetbay magnolia (''

Magnolia virginiana ''Magnolia virginiana'', most commonly known as sweetbay magnolia, or merely sweetbay (also laurel magnolia, swampbay, swamp magnolia, white bay, or beaver tree), is a member of the magnolia family, Magnoliaceae. It was the first magnolia to be ...

''). In several areas on the barrier islands, a stunted ''

Quercus geminata ''Quercus geminata'', commonly called sand live oak, is an evergreen oak tree native to the coastal regions of the subtropical southeastern United States, along the Atlantic Coast from southern Florida northward to southeastern Virginia and al ...

'' or mixed ''Q. geminata'' and ''Quercus virginiana'' forest dominates, with a dense evergreen understory of scrub palm ''

Serenoa repens ''Serenoa repens'', commonly known as saw palmetto, is a small palm, growing to a maximum height around . Taxonomy It is the sole species in the genus ''Serenoa''. The genus name honors American botanist Sereno Watson. Distribution and ...

'' and a variety of vines, including ''

Bignonia capreolata ''Bignonia capreolata'' is a vine commonly referred to as crossvine. The common name refers to the cross-shaped pattern revealed when the stem is cut; this pattern results from four radial wedges of phloem embedded within the stem's xylem. It i ...

'', as well as ''

Smilax ''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny, in the monocotyledon family (biology), family Smilacaceae, native through ...

'' and '' Vitis species. ''

Gordonia lasianthus ''Gordonia lasianthus'' (loblolly-bay, holly-bay, gordonia, or bay) is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree or shrub found in acidic, swampy soils of pinelands and bays on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains of the southeastern United States. ...

'', ''

Ilex opaca ''Ilex opaca'', the American holly, is a species of holly, native to the eastern and south-central United States, from coastal Massachusetts south to central Florida, and west to southeastern Missouri and eastern Texas. Description ''Ilex opaca' ...

'' and '' Osmanthus americanus'' also may occur as canopy co-dominant in coastal dune forests, with ''

Cliftonia monophylla ''Cliftonia monophylla'', the buck-wheat tree, buckwheat tree or black titi, is a tree native to the southeastern United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily l ...

'' and '' Vaccinium arboreum'' as a dense evergreen understory (Box and Fujiwara 1988). The lower

shrub layer In ecology, stratification refers to the vertical layering of a habitat; the arrangement of vegetation in layers. It classifies the layers (sing. ''stratum'', pl. ''strata'') of vegetation largely according to the different heights to which their p ...

of the evergreen forests is often mixed with other evergreen species from the palm family (''

Rhapidophyllum hystrix ''Rhapidophyllum hystrix'', the needle palm, is a Arecaceae, palm native to coastal margins of the Subtropics, subtropical eastern Gulf and south Atlantic states of the United States. Populations can be found from coastal southeast South Carolin ...

''), bush palmetto (''

Sabal minor ''Sabal minor'', commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of Arecaceae, palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, includi ...

''), and saw palmetto (''

''), and several species in the Ilex family, including ''

Ilex glabra ''Ilex glabra'', also known as Appalachian tea, evergreen winterberry, Canadian winterberry, gallberry, inkberry, dye-leaves and , is a species of evergreen holly native to the coastal plain of eastern North America, from coastal Nova Scotia to ...

'',

Dahoon holly ''Ilex cassine'' is a holly native to the southeastern coast of North America that grows from Virginia south down the East Coast of the United States, East Coast to Florida, then west along the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast to the C ...

, and Yaupon holly. In many areas, ''

Cyrilla racemiflora ''Cyrilla racemiflora'', the sole species in the genus ''Cyrilla'', is a flowering plant in the family Cyrillaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas, from the southeastern United States (coastal areas from southeastern ...

'', ''

Lyonia fruticosa ''Lyonia fruticosa'', the poor-grub or coastal plain staggerbush, is a plant species native to the US states of Florida, southern Georgia and the extreme southern part of South Carolina. It grows in pine woodlands and shrub bogs at elevations le ...

'', wax myrtle ''

Myrica ''Myrica'' is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, and missing only from Antar ...

'' is present as an evergreen understory. Several species of ''

Yucca ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...

'' and ''

Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid clima ...

'' are native as well to the drier sandy coastal scrub environment of the region, including ''

Yucca aloifolia ''Yucca aloifolia''Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1: 319. 1753

'', '' Yucca filamentosa'', '' Yucca gloriosa'', and ''

Opuntia stricta ''Opuntia stricta'' is a species of large cactus that is endemic to the subtropical and tropical coastal areas of the Americas, especially around the Caribbean. Common names include erect prickly pear and nopal estricto (Spanish language, Spanis ...

''.

Ancient California

During the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, oak-laurel forests were found in Central and Southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Typical tree species included oaks ancestral to present-day California oaks, as well as an assemblage of trees from the Laurel family, including '' Nectandra'', ''

'', ''

'', 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 Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

that have evergreen forests. Several species of evergreen ''Quercus'' forests occur, as well as a mix of evergreen scrub typical of

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

s. Species of ''

Notholithocarpus ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is a hardwood tree that is native to the far western United Sta ...

'', '' Arbutus menziesii'', and ''Umbellularia californica'' can be canopy species in several areas.

Central America

The laurel forest is the most common

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

n temperate evergreen cloud forest type. They are found in mountainous areas of southern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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 ''Weinmannia'' is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Cunoniaceae. It contains 90 species, which range from Mexico through Central and South America including the Caribbean, and to the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius and Réunion) in the weste ...

'', ''

Drimys ''Drimys'' is a genus of seven species of woody evergreen flowering plants, in the family Winteraceae. The species are native to the Neotropics, ranging from southern Mexico to the southern tip of South America.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 Sierra de las Minas is a mountain range in eastern Guatemala which extends 130 km west of the Lake Izabal. It is 15–30 km wide and bordered by the valleys of the Polochic River in the north and the Motagua River in the south. Its we ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, is the largest in Central America. In some areas of southeastern

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

there are cloud forests, the largest located near the border with

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. In

the

s are found in the border zone with Honduras, and most were cleared to grow

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

. 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 Mombacho is a stratovolcano in Nicaragua, near the city of Granada. It is high. The Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve is one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua. Mombacho’s last eruption occurred in 1570. There is no historical knowledge of earl ...

volcano in Nicaragua. In

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

there are laurisilvas in the "Cordillera de Tilarán" and Volcán Arenal, called

Monteverde Monteverde is the twelfth Cantons of Costa Rica, canton of the Puntarenas Province, Puntarenas Provinces of Costa Rica, province of Costa Rica, located in the Cordillera de Tilarán (Tilarán range). Roughly a four-hour drive from the Costa Rica ...

, also in the

Cordillera de Talamanca The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...

Laurel forest ecoregions in Mexico and Central America

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

Talamancan montane forests The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, in the tropical moist broadleaf forest biome, are in montane Costa Rica and western Panama in Central America. Setting The Talamancan montane forests cover a discontinuous area of in Cordilleran mount ...

* Veracruz montane forests

Tropical Andes

The

Yungas The Yungas ( Aymara ''yunka'' warm or temperate Andes or earth, Quechua ''yunka'' warm area on the slopes of the Andes) is a bioregion of a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains from Peru and Bolivia, and extends i ...

are typically evergreen forests or jungles, and multi-species, which often contain many species of the laurel forest. They occur discontinuously from

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

to northwestern

including in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, 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 The Urubamba River or Vilcamayo River (possibly from Quechua ''Willkamayu'', for "sacred river") is a river in Peru. Upstream it is called Vilcanota River (possibly from Aymara ''Willkanuta'', for "house of the sun"). Within the La Convención ...

as it passes through

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain ridge at . Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire. It is located in the ...

. Many of the Yungas are degraded or are forests in recovery that have not yet reached their

climax vegetation In scientific ecology, climax community or climatic climax community is a historic term for a community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, hav ...

Southeastern South America

The laurel forests of the region are known as the ''Laurisilva Misionera'', after Argentina's

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the Provinces of Argentina, 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil ...

. 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'', '' O. catharinense'' and '' O. porosa''), Myrtaceae (''

Campomanesia xanthocarpa ''Campomanesia'' is a genus in the family (biology), family Myrtaceae described as a genus in 1794. It is native to South America and Trinidad.Landrum, L. R. & M. L. Kawasaki. 1997. The genera of Myrtaceae in Brazil: an illustrated synoptic treat ...

''), and Leguminosae ('' Parapiptadenia rigida''), with an emergent layer of the conifer Brazilian Araucaria (''

Araucaria angustifolia ''Araucaria angustifolia'', the Paraná pine, Brazilian pine or candelabra tree (, or ), is a critically endangered species in the Pinophyta, conifer genus ''Araucaria''. Although the common names in various languages refer to the species as a " ...

'') reaching up to in height. The subtropical

Serra do Mar coastal forests The Serra do Mar coastal forests is an ecoregion of the tropical moist forests biome. It is part of the Atlantic Forest of eastern South America. This ecoregion has an outstanding biodiversity consisting of flora, mammals, birds, and herpetofa ...

along the southern coast of Brazil have a tree canopy of Lauraceae and Myrtaceae, with emergent trees of Leguminaceae, and a rich diversity of

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

s and trees and shrubs of family Melastomaceae. The inland

Alto Paraná Atlantic forests The Alto Paraná Atlantic forests, also known as the Paraná-Paraíba interior forests, is an ecoregion of the tropical moist forests biome, and the South American Atlantic Forest biome. It is located in southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, ...

, 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

and

from the Pacific Ocean to the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

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

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, and

. The laurel forests of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are home to species related to those in the Valdivian laurel forests, ''

Beilschmiedia tawa ''Beilschmiedia tawa'', commonly known as the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the Sou ...

'' is often the dominant canopy species of the laural genus ''

'' in lowland laurel forests in the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

and the northeast of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

, but will also often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in these areas, with podocarps. Genus ''Beilschmiedia'' are trees and

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s widespread in tropical

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, the

, and

as far south as

. In the Corynocarpus family, '' Corynocarpus laevigatus'' is sometimes called laurel of New Zealand, while '' Laurelia novae-zelandiae'' belongs to the same genus as '' Laurelia sempervirens''. The tree

niaouli ''Melaleuca quinquenervia'', commonly known as the broad-leaved paperbark, paper bark tea tree, punk tree or niaouli, is a small- to medium-sized tree of the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. It grows as a spreading tree up to tall, with its trunk cov ...

grows in Australia, New Caledonia, and Papua. The

and Northern Australian ecoregions are also closely related.

New Guinea

The eastern end of

Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ...

, including

and the

Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to: Education * Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States * Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England * Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university Places * Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...

of eastern Indonesia, is linked to Australia by a shallow continental shelf, and shares many

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

mammal and bird

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

with Australia. New Guinea also has many additional elements of the Antarctic flora, including southern beech (''

Nothofagus ''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 ...

'') and

Eucalypt Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

s. New Guinea has the highest mountains in

, and vegetation ranges from tropical lowland forest to

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

. The highlands of New Guinea and

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

are home to montane laurel forests, from about elevation. These forests include species typical of both Northern Hemisphere laurel forests, including ''

,'' and Lauraceae, and Southern Hemisphere laurel forests, including Southern Beech ''

'', ''

Araucaria ''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. While today they are largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous they were glo ...

'',

Podocarp 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 ...

s, and trees of the Myrtle family (

). New Guinea and Northern Australia are closely related. Around 40 million years ago, the 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

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 The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

remained largely undisturbed.

= Laurel forest ecoregions of New Guinea

= The 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 The Huon Peninsula montane rain forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist forest ecoregion in New Guinea. The ecoregion covers the mountains of northeastern New Guinea's Huon Peninsula. Geography The ecoregion ...

* New Britain–New Ireland montane rain forests *

Northern New Guinea montane rain forests The Northern New Guinea montane rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in northern New Guinea. The ecoregion covers several separate mountain ranges lying north of New Guinea's Central Range and south of the Pacific Ocean. Geogra ...

* Vogelkop montane rain forests

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

Ecology

Characteristics

Origin

Ecoregions

East Asia

Laurel forest ecoregions in East Asia

Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines

Laurel forest ecoregions of Sundaland, Wallacea, and the Philippines

Macaronesia and the Mediterranean Basin

Laurel forest ecoregions of Macaronesia

Nepal

Southern India

Sri Lanka

Africa

Southeast United States

Ancient California

Central America

Laurel forest ecoregions in Mexico and Central America

Tropical Andes

Southeastern South America

Central Chile

Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand

New Guinea

= Laurel forest ecoregions of New Guinea

See also

References

External links