Laurel forest

Laurel forest on La Gomera

Laurel forests are evergreen wet forests in the subtropical climatic zone. Typical are trees with dark green, medium-sized, leathery, tough, strong and shiny laurophyllous or lucidophyllen leaves. It is named after the laurel plants , which are common in the laurel forests of the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, other plant families mostly dominate, but the vegetation type is the same.

Climate and delimitation from other types of vegetation

Laurel forests grow in the subtropical climatic zone in areas with sufficient rainfall, especially in the summer months. The winters are mild and the summers are mostly warm. Most plants can tolerate light frosts, but mostly not temperatures below −10 ° C.

The laurel forests differ from the deciduous deciduous forests in that they are milder winters, whereby evergreen deciduous trees dominate. They differ from the tropical and subtropical rainforests by the presence of a cool season with occasional frosts (winter). As a result, the storey structure is simpler, and many typically tropical plant genera are missing, but genera from temperate areas are more common.

The laurel forests differ from the Mediterranean hardwood forests in that they do not have a dry period in summer. As a result, the vegetation is overall more lush and broad-leaved. The laurel forests are difficult to distinguish from the temperate rainforests and are often grouped together with them. From a climatic point of view, the laurel forests differ from the temperate rainforests in that the summers are warmer. Physiognomically, the differences are small.

distribution

Laurel forests are found in the following areas:

• Canary Islands , Madeira , Azores : Laurisilva Macaronesia
• Georgia and Turkey : Black Sea Coast
• East Asia: northern Vietnam , southern China , southern Japan , South Korea
• Southeast USA
• Southeast Australia
• North of New Zealand
• Southeast of South Africa
• Southeast of Brazil
• Southeast of Azerbaijan and North of Iran ( Hyrcanic Forest )

See also

• East side climate

literature

• Heinrich Walter, Siegmar-Walter Breckle: Vegetation and climatic zones. Global ecology floor plan. 7th edition. UTB 14 / Ulmer, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 978-3-8252-0014-5 (UTB) / ISBN 3-8001-2722-9 (Ulmer).
• J. Pfadenhauer, F. Kötzli: Vegetation of the earth. Springer Spectrum, Heidelberg 2014. ISBN 978-3-642-41949-2 .

Web links

Commons : Laurel Forest  - Collection of images, videos and audio files