The Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests is an ecoregion that covers most of the island of Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, with the exception of the southern tip of the island, which constitutes the South Taiwan monsoon rain forests ecoregion. The islands steep mountains host a range of forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 types, from subtropical forests in the lowlands to temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 and subalpine

Subalpine

The subalpine zone is the biotic zone immediately below tree line around the world. Species that occur in this zone depend on the location of the zone on the Earth, for example, Snow Gum in Australia, or Subalpine Larch, Mountain Hemlock and Subalpine Fir in western North America.Trees in the...

 forests.

Flora

The coastal plains and lower elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

s are covered by evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 laurel-Castanopsis forests, dominated by Chinese Cryptocarya (Cryptocarya chinensis

Cryptocarya chinensis

Cryptocarya chinensis, commonly known as the Chinese Cryptocarya, is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to the subtropical forests of Taiwan, southern China, and Japan.Synonym: Beilschmiedia chinensis Hance....

) and Castanopsis hystrix

Castanopsis hystrix

Castanopsis hystrix is a species of evergreen broadleaf tree, which grows up to 30 meters in height.The tree is found in subtropical broadleaved evergreen forests, ranging from the eastern Himalayas of Nepal, Bhutan, and northeastern India, across Indochina , southern China Castanopsis hystrix is a...

, with scattered stands of the subtropical pine Pinus massoniana

Pinus massoniana

Pinus massoniana is a species of pine, native to a wide area of central and southern China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and northern Vietnam, growing at low to moderate altitudes, mostly below 1,500 m but rarely up to 2,000 m altitude.- Description :It is an evergreen tree reaching 25-45 m in...

. At higher elevations, Japanese Blue Oak (Quercus glauca) replaces Cryptocarya and Castanopsis as the dominant tree.

As elevation further increases, the evergreen broadleaf tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s are gradually replaced by deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 broadleaf trees and conifers. Above 3,000 meters, deciduous broadleaf trees like Formosan Alder

Formosan Alder

Alnus. formosana, or Formosan Alder, is a species of alder native to Taiwan....

 (Alnus formosana) and maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

 (Acer spp.) mix with Taiwan Hemlock (Tsuga chinensis). At the highest elevations, subalpine forests are dominated by conifers, including Taiwan Hemlock (Tsuga chinensis), spruce

Spruce

A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...

s (Picea spp.), and fir

Fir

Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...

s (Abies spp.).

External links

• Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests (World Wildlife Fund)