Phytocoenological Characters of the Castanopsis carlesii Forest in North Guangdong

The phytocoenololgical characters of the Castanopsis carlesii forest in North Guangdong were studied. Floristic elements were analyzed based on the 6 300 m 2 samples. 184 species of vascular plants belonging to 59 families and 123 genera were found to occurred on the forest. Dominant families of the forest are Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Theaceae, etc. Most of the floristic elements are tropical subtropical elements. Dominant geographical elements are pantropic genera and Tropical Asia genera. The flora of the Castanopsis carlesii forest in north Guangdong is a part of spermatophytic flora of Guangdong. It can be inferred that the flora can be incorporated into the Cathaysian Flora, belonging to the East Asia Region, directly under South China Province, N Guangdong—NW Fujian subprovince. The life form of the forest was measured according to Raunkiaer's system of classification. The forest is so less disturbed that stratification can be clearly divided into three layers: tree layer shrub layer and herbaceous layer. The tree layer can be divided into two sublayers. Tree and shrub species are more than those of herbaceous. The density of individuals (DBH≥2 cm) in the forest is 3 144 plants·hm -2 , average distance is 1.69 m.