592 Forestry Quarterly. 



The Mossy-Forest Type. 



Some 3,200 square miles (828,800 hectares), or 8 per cent, of 

 the land area of the Philippines, is the estimated amount of the 

 high and very rough mountain region covered by virgin forests. 

 They are essentially protective forests. Alany such mountainous 

 regions have already been cleared of their forests by caingin 

 makers and are now covered with grass. These regions show 

 such a complex set of conditions, both as regards habitat and 

 vegetation that as yet our knowledge is too incomplete to care- 

 fully distinguish the types. Perhaps, in a broad sense only, one 

 type exists, with certain variations or subtypes. Because of the 

 presence of moss and liverworts in great abundance, it has been 

 designated as the mossy-forest type. 



The topography is rough and constantly changing. It con- 

 sists of steep main ridges, rising to exposed peaks, and whose 

 sides are in turn cut into smaller ridges by the deep canons. Land 

 slips are frequent, and these in all stages of being reclothed with 

 vegetation add to the difficulty of analysis. The soil is shallow 

 or nearly absent. Rock exposures occur, often covering large 

 areas ; but except on very steep slopes or on fresh slides they are 

 covered with vegetation. Some mountains have more rounded 

 dome-shaped tops, and on these the topography is much more 

 stable. 



As a rule, the climatic conditions are exceedingly moist, both 

 as regards rainfall and relative humidity. Opposed to this favor- 

 able climate is the very great exposure to winds. The former is 

 the cause of the mossy condition ; the latter, of the dwarfed habit 

 of the trees. The temperature conditions are much lower than 

 those of the coastal region. 



The tree vegetation is complex, yet not so much so as the for- 

 ests lower down. Especially on the highest mountains, owing to 

 these very unstable conditions, or where volcanic action has not 

 been long extinct, trees are absent or nearly so. On mountains 

 above 1,200 meters (3930 feet), the mossy-forest appears at its 

 best. Dacrydium and Podocarpus spp., Bugenia spp., Tristania 

 decorticata, Leptospermum amboinense, Decaspermum spp., 

 Quercus spp., Myrica spp., Bnglehardtia spicata, Acronychia 



