What are the characteristics of the Himalayan vegetation
Answers
Answer:
The grassland vegetation along the elevation gradient of the Himalayas includes the most productive hygrophilous grasslands of the Terai, mesophilous grasslands and hill savannas in the Siwaliks, hillside grasslands in the lower and upper montane belts, alpine grasslands of the Greater Himalaya and steppe grasslands
Explanation:
Himalayan vegetation can be broadly classified into four types—tropical, subtropical, temperate, and alpine—each of which prevails in a zone determined mainly by elevation and precipitation. Local differences in relief and climate, as well as exposure to sunlight and wind, cause considerable variation in the species present within each zone. Tropical evergreen rainforest is confined to the humid foothills of the eastern and central Himalayas. The evergreen dipterocarps—a group of timber- and resin-producing trees—are common; their different species grow on different soils and on hill slopes of varying steepness. Ceylon ironwood (Mesua ferrea) is found on porous soils at elevations between 600 and 2,400 feet (180 and 720 metres); bamboos grow on steep slopes; oaks (genus Quercus) and Indian horse chestnuts (Aesculus indica) grow on the lithosol (shallow soils consisting of imperfectly weathered rock fragments), covering sandstones from Arunachal Pradesh westward to central Nepal at elevations from 3,600 to 5,700 feet (1,100 to 1,700 metres). Alder trees (genus Alnus) are found along the watercourses on the steeper slopes. At higher elevations those species give way to mountain forests in which the typical evergreen is the Himalayan screw pine (Pandanus furcatus). Besides those trees, some 4,000 species of flowering plants, of which 20 are palms, are estimated to occur in the eastern Himalayas.
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