2013 Volume 30 Issue 2 Pages 95-117
The community structures of the forests along the western coast of Kochi Prefecture, Japan, are known as Quercus salicina - Machilus japonica community, free of any Machilus thunbergii Siebold et Zucc. The floristic composition of Quercus salicina - Machilus japonica community stands was compared with that of 1089 stands of evergreen broad-leaved forests in southwestern Japan. The findings revealed that these evergreen broad-leaved forest stands had floristic characteristics that differed from the Quercus salicina - Machilus japonica community. The Quercus salicina - Machilus japonica community was described as Machilo japonicae - Quercetum salicinae which belongs to Myrsino - Castanopsietalia sieboldii Fujiwara 1981, Maeso japonicae - Castanopsion sieboldii Fujiwara 1981. Despite the Machilo japonicae - Quercetum salicinae belonging to Maeso japonicae - Castanopsion sieboldii, that also included species of the Quercion acuto - myrsinaefoliae Fujiwara 1981, such as Quercus salicina Blume and Cephalotaxus harringtonia (Knight ex Forbes) K. Koch. On this point, the floristic composition of the Machilo japonicae - Quercetum salicinae was considered to be similar to Quercion acuto - myrsinaefoliae. Regarding the community structures of the Machilo japonicae - Quercetum salicinae, the stand canopies were composed of species, such as Castanopsis sieboldii (Makino) Hatus ex T. Yamaz. et Mashiba, Quercus salicina, Cinnamomum camphora (L.) J. Presl and Camellia japonica L. Of these, Castanopsis sieboldii, Quercus salicina and Cinnamomum camphora did not occur under the second layer without seedlings in the stands. Further, although Machilus japonica Siebold et Zucc. ex Meisn. and Cephalotaxus harringtonia can grow to be more than 20m tall, they occur mainly in the third layer (height 2-5m). Machilo japonicae - Quercetum salicinae was distributed on stable slopes along the coast of western Kochi Prefecture and has also been recorded in western Kyushu in previous studies.
