Tropical semi-evergreen forest
Topic: Natural Vegetation and Forests of India · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Natural Vegetation"
Meaning
Tropical semi-evergreen forest grows in the less rainy parts of India's evergreen regions: the Western Ghats, the northeast hills and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It mixes evergreen trees with moist deciduous trees, which drop their leaves in the dry season. Climbers grow thickly underneath, so the forest still looks green all year. The main species are white cedar, hollock and kail.
Example
Semi-evergreen forest grows on the drier edges of the evergreen belt in the Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka. Here the rain is a little below what true evergreen forest needs.
Don't confuse with
- Tropical evergreen forest: this needs over 200 cm of rain and temperatures above 22°C. Its trees have no fixed season for shedding leaves. Its typical species are rosewood, mahogany and ebony, not white cedar, hollock and kail.