Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Tropical Closed Forest - with Indo-Malaysian floristic elements

Closed forest alliances in tropical areas have a evergreen upper level of that varies in height from 15-40 m, evergreen emergents, such as Aracauria cunninghamii, of sometimes semi-deciduous trees. In this type of closed forest often have more than 100 species of trees from many angiosperm families, eg., Lauraceae, Rutaceae, Myrtaceae, Meliaceae, Myristicaceae, Proteaceae, sapindaceae, Rubiaceae, and others. Most have mesophyll leaves (more than 45 sq cm in area), or occasionally notophyll (20-45 sq cm). There are always lianes (vines), plank buttresses, vascular epiphytes, palms and aroids are characteristic of these forests. In places like Arnhem land and the Northern Territory, where the environment is less favourable, the closed forest may become depauperate, 4.5-9 m tall, containing more dry season deciduous elements, and be characterised by the leaf size class microphyll, less than 20 sq cm. Lianes are usually present.

Sources & Further reading