The Vegetation of the Imatong Mountains, Sudan

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Abstract
The Imatong Mountains lie on the frontier of the Sudan and Uganda, and rise to a height of 3187 m. The following zones of vegetation are distinguished: -plains and lower slopes, divided into a moister region with tropical rainforest climax, and a drier region; lower montane forest, 1800-2600 m, with Podocarpus-Syzygium climax; higher montane forest, 2600-3000 m, with Podocarpus climax; and ericaceous zone, over 3000 m. In each zone the succession trom fire-swept grassland to forest is described. Comparison is made with the vegetation of other mountain areas in East Africa, and on the analogy of observations made in the Imatongs it is suggested that some of the characteristic East African montane communities may be seral stages produced by human interference, particularly fire.