Moist Tropical Evergreen Vegetation

These are the tropical rain forests which are further divided into two sub-types.

A. Wet Tropical Evergreen Vegetation

The Wet Tropical Evergreen Vegetation is found in regions of very high annual rainfall exceeding 300 cm with a very brief dry season. Southern parts of Western Ghat of Kerala and Karnataka are very wet. Northeastern Hills are known for this type of vegetation. It resembles the equatorial vegetation. This type of vegetation cover has been badly depleted due to over cutting of trees.

The major characteristics of this type of vegetation are:

1. These forests are dense and have lofty evergreen trees, often as high as 60 metres and above.
2. The number of species per unit area is too large to exploit them commercially.
3. Mahogony, cinchona, bamboos and palms are typical species of plants found in these forests. Undergrowth is very dense and thick. Grass is almost absent.
4. The wood of these trees is very hard and heavy to work with.

B. Moist Tropical Semi-evergreen Vegetation

Moist Tropical Semi-evergreen Vegetation is found between wet evergreen vegetation and moist temperate deciduous vegetation. This type of vegetation is found on the Meghalaya plateau, Sahyadris and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This vegetation is confined to areas receiving an annual rainfall of about 250 to 300 cm.

Its important characteristics are:

1. The vegetation cover is less dense than the wet evergreen forests.
2. Timber of these forests is fine textured and of good quality.
3. Rosewood, aini and telsur are important trees in Sahyadris, champa, joon and gurjan in Assam and Meghalaya and ironwood, ebony and laurel grew in other regions.
4. Shifting agriculture and over exploitation of forests have depleted this vegetal cover to a great extent.