Occurrence: Perhumid Lowland Climate with absent water stress (no reguler annual dry season) ± 1200 m above mean sea level an dry land site Distributed in Eastern tropics, western Amazonia and Facific coast of South America, Africa (near coast of West Africa; between Guinea and Liberia; between Cameroon and Gabon)

Morphological Characteristics Large number of species. Lofty dense. Evergreen forest 45 m or more tall. 2-3 or more canopy tree layers (conventionally having three tree layers) with the top layers of individual or grouped giant emergent trees, over a main stratum of m, and with smaller, shade-dwelling trees below that. Ground vegetation is often sparse mainly of small trees, where herbs are patchy.

Some of biggest trees have clear bole of 30 m and 4.5 m in girth, maybe decidious or semi decidious. Boles are almost cylindrical. Buttresses, cauliflory/ramiflory are common feature. Leaf = pinnate, leafblade of mesophyll size. Big woody climbers, mostly free hanging are abundant. Shade and sun epiphytes are occasional to frequent. Bryophytes are rare.

Occurrence: Eastern Tropic Less extensive in Africa (occur in Cameroon and Zaire river basin)

Montain Rain Forest Zones in Malaya Forest formation Upper montane Lower montane Lowland Montane ericaceous Oak-laurel Upper dipterocarp Hill dipterocarp Lowland dipterocarp

Florictic zoneImpotant groups Montane ericaceousConiferae Ericaceae Myrtaceae Oak-laurelFagaceae, Lauraceae Upper dipterocarpShorea platyclados, S. Ciliata, S. Ovata, Dipterocarpus retusus Hill dipterocarpAs bellow + Shorea curtisii Lowland dipterocarpNumerous dipterocarps especially Dipterocarpus spp., Shorea spp. and Dryobalanops aromatica

Morphological Characteristics of Mountain Rain Forest (Whitemore, 1990) FormationTropical lowland boleevergreen rain forest Tropical lower montane rain forest Tropical upper montane rain forest Canopy height25-45 m15-33 m m Emergent treesCharacteristic, to 60(80) m tall Often absent, to 37 m tall Usually absent, to 26 m tall Pinnate leavesFrequentRareVery rare Principal leaf size class of woody plants Mesophyll Microphyll ButtressesUsually frequent and large Uncommon, smallUsually absent CaulifloryFrequentRareAbsent Big woody climbersAbundantUsually noneNone Bole climbersOften abundantFrequent to abundant Very few Vascular epiphytesFrequentAbundantFrequent Non-vascular epiphytes OccasionalOccasional to abundant Often abundant

Batas-batas orografik dari flora pegunungan Malesia (Van Stenis, 1972) Elevasi (m) Batas terendah Batas tertinggiTotal ZONA LITORAL (lamun dan alga) ZONA LAUT VEGETASI POHON ALAMI MANGROVE ZONA TROPIK FLORA PANTAI Formasi BARRINGTONIA & GUMUK PASIR ZONA PAMAH ZONA BUKIT (COLLINE ZONE) Hutan tertutup berbatang pohon tinggi dan miskin akan lumut ZONA SUBPEGUNUNGAN Hutan tertutup berbatang pohon tinggi di atas elevasi 2000 m, dengan diameter batang yang bertambah kecil dan lumut yang bertambah banyak ZONA PEGUNUNGAN

Elevasi (m) Batas terendah Batas tertinggiTotal Hutan rendah rapat dengan pohon-pohon tinggi menyendiri, sering berlumut, atau terdapat Konifera ZONA SUBALPIN VEGETASI POHON ALAMI BATAS HUTAN Semak-semak rendah menyendiri atau berupa rumpun atau Konifera BATAS POHON ZONA ALPIN VEGETASI TERNA ALPIN ABADI GURUN BATU Dengan lumut, lumut kerak dan beberapa Fanerogam, terutama rumput dan teki SALJU ABADI ZONA SALJU (NIVAL ZONE)

Affected by the change of climate at different altitude. Morphological Characteristic At low to medium altitude o Rainfall increase o More luxuriant vegetation Temperature decrease with increasing altitude. Above the medium altitude o Height and diameter of trees decrease o Number of species decrease

o Three tree canopy layer change become to two canopy layer o Luxuriant epiphytes (mainly mosses and liverworths) o Trunks and branches are covered by mosses and liverworths o Few woody vine SUBMONTANE FOREST

Alpine Forest or Mossy Forest (above the sub- montane forest) or True Montane Forest o Single storey of twisted trees of massive growth and rich branching. o Leaves are smaller than those of rain forest. o Trunks and branches are covered with thick mat mosses and liverworths. o A number of ferns and flowering plants grow among liverworths and mosses. o More light penetrates and ground vegetation is heavier.

o Numerious of flowering trees, shrubs and epiphytes. o Stranglers are absent. o Small climbers may be found near the upper limits of the forest. Above the Alpine Forest (zone of dwarf shrub, followed by Alpine Meadow or Alpine Savanna with short and matted plant). Above those zones is NIVAL ZONE (SALJU).

Heat Forest is called HUTAN KERANGAS in Bahasa Indonesia/Melayu and campina/campinarana/caatinga Amazonica/campina repustre in Brazil. Occurrance: Rio Negro & Rio Orinoco in South America Kalimantan, Serawak, Brunei in Borneo Coastal sand in Gabon, Cameroon and Ivory Coast in Africa

Habitat: Soil: siliceous sand (tanah pasir kuarsa/silikat), either coastal alluvium or weathered sandstones, these become podzolized. o Acidic (pH<4) o Low sesquioxide o Coarse texture, freely draining o Stream draining heat forest is black/tea- colored due to precense of organic colloids, acid with low cation content.

Morphological Characteristics Storey formed by large number of saplings and small poles, often difficult to penetrate. Canopy is low, uniform and usually densely closed. Big woody climbers are rare. Epihytes are common. Mycrophyte and insectivetons plants may be abundant, i.e. Nepenthes (Kantong semar)