Southern Mistbelt Forest
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The Southern Mistbelt Forest is a vegetation type in South Africa.
KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces.
Landscape
Forest patches in high-rainfall, fire-protected habitats on steep south-facing slopes. Altitudes range from 850 to 1 600 m, and mean annual rainfall generally exceeds 900 mm.
Vegetation
In the Amathole Mountains and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, and on the Transkei Escarpment, these forests are characterized by their tall stature, reaching heights of 15–20 meters. They have a complex structure, with two layers of trees, a dense shrubby understorey, and a well-developed herb layer. On the low-altitude scarps, the forests are shorter and resemble scrub forests in some areas, but they are still home to a diverse range of species. While the tall forests exhibit a mix of coarse-grained dynamics driven by canopy gaps and disturbances, as well as fine-grained regeneration characteristics, the mistbelt forests in the Amathole region are primarily dominated by emergent trees such as Afrocarpus falcatus, along with various deciduous and semi-deciduous species including Celtis africana, Calodendrum capense, Vepris lanceolata, and Zanthoxylum davyi. In Transkei and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, Podocarpus henkelii becomes more prominent in the canopy layer. Deciduous species play a significant role in these forests.[1]