Vol 3 Land Resource Inventory Report - Department of Environment ...

Figure 7. Coastal Forest Type with dominant evergreen like Terminalia catappa,
Barringtonia asiatica and Pisonia grandis. The deciduous (tree without leaves) tree
Gyrocarpus americanus on the slopes.
Other common large trees include Hernandia nymphaeifolia, Thespesia populnea,
Neisosperma oppositifolium, Calophyllum inophyllum, and Cocos nucifera. These
trees on average had heights of up to 12m with boles of 2-3m. The largest tree
measured was Terminalia catappa with dbh of 96cm. Shrubs and sub canopy trees
observed included Hibiscus tiliaceus, Guetarda speciosa, Excoecaria agallocha,
Acacia simplex and Scaevola taccada.
Mangrove Forest
The mangrove forest is not extensive and is restricted only to the south east coast
covering an area of about 600 m 2 . Here a small stand of Rhizophora cf. stylosa was
observed. Trees on average grew to three meters in height with an average dbh of
about 35cm.
Dry Forest
The rest of the island is mostly made up of this forest type. The bole of the trees on
average has lengths of about 3m and leaves are sclerophyllous. There are a lot of
woody lianas and Cycas seemannii (Fig 8). Deciduous trees and shrubs found in the
forest type included Gyrocarpus americanus, Pleiogynium timoriense, Millettia
pinnata, Erythrina variegata and Antirhea insconspicua. Two other deciduous plants
normally found on such forest were not observed - Koeluteria elegans and Garuga
floribunda. Lianas and creepers include Entada phaseoloides, Ventilago vitiensis and
Dichapetalum vitiense and are common throughout the island.
The ground cover is covered with sparsely dispersed woody plants like Alyxia sp,
Nephrolepsis sp., the grasses Scleria sp. and Oplismenus sp.
Overall there is evidence of previous grazing and fire but no recent sign of such
activities. The Island overall has only a handful of invasive species that have very
little ecological impact.
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