FAO Forestry country profiles - natural woody vegetation

Broadleaved

Open forest and savannah woodland corresponds to Lebrun and Gilbert's "tropophile forests", especially forms modified or degraded by clearing and fires. These two authors distinguish:

• "Zambezian tropophile forests", which are subdivided as follows:
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  Berlinia giorgii and Marquesia macroura stands, which act as a transition between semi-deciduous forests and proper tropophile forests, particularly in Bas-Zaïre and Bandundu provinces ("Guinean savannah tinged with Sudano-Zambezian elements to the west of Lake Leopold II", in Devred's classification). Typical species in this sector are Brachystegia mimosaefolia, Daniellia alsteeniana, Guibourtia coleosperma, Uapaca nitida and U. sansibarica;

  ­Balanites quarrei, Boscia caloneura and Fagara homblei stands on the cool soils of Shaba province;

  Brachystegia macrophylla and Monotes spp. stands;

• "Sudanian tropophile forests", which are not common except on the borders of the Central African Republic and the Sudan ("Sudanian tropophile open forests" in Devred's classification). Typical species include Butyrospermum parkii, Daniellia oliveri, Detarium senegalense, Erythroxylon manii, Isoberlinia spp. (including I. doka), Lophira lanceolata, Monotes kerstingii, Parinari kerstingii, Parkia biglobosa and Uapaca somon.

Devred's vegetation map gives a more detailed classification of mixed forest and grass formations which includes the following categories as well as the two given above: "Guinean savannah tinged with Sudano-Zambezian elements"; "Degraded dry closed forests, replaced by tropophile open forests and islands of Zambezian savannah";

• "Degraded tropophile open forests";
• "Zambezian steppe savannah on the Bateke plateaux and in the southern Kwango region";
• "Zambezian steppe savannah on the high Katangan plateaux";
• "Savannah woodland on alluvial soil with Acacia sieberiana var. woodii and A. polyacantha var. campylacantha";
• "Sudanian tropophile open forests".