page_title: Mount Cameroon
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Cameroon / Flora
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the tropical rain forest on mount Cameroon national reserve park.
context_page_description: Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in the South West region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako or by its indigenous name Mongo ma Ndemi. It is the highest point in sub-Saharan western and central Africa, the fourth-most prominent peak in Africa, and the 31st-most prominent in the world.
  The mountain is part of the area of volcanic activity known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line, which also includes Lake Nyos, the site of a disaster in 1986. The most recent eruption occurred on February 3, 2012.
context_section_description: The mountain's natural vegetation varies with elevation. The main plant communities on the mountain include:
  Lowland rain forest predominates on the lower slopes, from sea level to 800 meters elevation. The lowland forests are part of the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests ecoregion. They are composed of evergreen trees with a dense canopy 25 to 30 meters high, with taller emergent trees rising above the canopy. Many trees have buttress roots. The forests are diverse and species-rich, with numerous lianas. Much of the lowland forest has been converted to agriculture and agroforestry, including oil palm plantations.
  Lower montane forest, also known as submontane forest or cloud forest, grows between 800 and 1,600 meters elevation. The lower montane forests are composed of evergreen trees, which form a 20 – 25 meter-high canopy that is either closed or discontinuous. There are scattered areas of meadow and scrubland, with grasses, herbs, tall herbaceous plants (including Acanthaceae), tree ferns, woody shrubs, and low trees. Frequent clouds and mists sustain profuse epiphytes, including mosses, ferns, and orchids. The lower montane forests are diverse and species-rich, with characteristic Afromontane plants and endemic species. Impatiens etindensis and I. grandisepala are herbaceous epiphytes endemic to the montane forests of Mount Cameroon. The lower montane forests, together with the higher-elevation forests, scrub, and grasslands, are part of the Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests ecoregion.
  Upper montane forest grows from 1,600 – 1,800 meters elevation. Trees up to 20 meters high form an open-canopied forest with numerous epiphytes. The upper montane forests are less species-rich than the lower-elevation forests, and fires are more frequent.
  Montane scrub grows between 1,800 and 2,400 meters elevation. Low trees of 1 to 15 meters form open-canopied forests, woodlands, and shrublands, with an understory of small shrubs, herbs, ferns, and climbers.
  Montane grassland occurs between 2,000 and 3,000 meters elevation. The dominant vegetation is tussock grasses, with scattered fire-tolerant shrubs and low trees.
  Sub-alpine grassland is found at the highest elevations, from 3,000 to over 4,000 meters. Frost-tolerant tussock grasses, dwarf trees and shrubs, and crustose, foliose, and fruticose lichens predominate.
caption: A view of the tropical rain forest on mount Cameroon national reserve park
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