Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests
The Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of Northeastern India, southern Bhutan and adjacent Bangladesh. Location and description The ecoregion covers and encompasses the alluvial plain of the upper Brahmaputra River as it moves westward through India's Assam state (with small parts of the ecoregion in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and also south Bhutan and northern Bangladesh). The valley lies between the Himalayas to the north and the Lushai hills to the south and when the river floods during the June to September monsoon it brings up to 300 cm of water onto the plain carrying rich soils to create a fertile environment which has been extensively farmed for thousands of years. Other rivers that water the plains as well as the Brahmaputra include the Manas and the Subansiri. Flora/plants The extensive farming has meant that the original semi-evergreen forest now exists only in patches. Typical canopy trees include the evergreen Syzygium, Cinnamomum and Magnoliaceae along with deciduous Terminalia myriocarpa, Terminalia citrina, Terminalia tomentosa, Tetrameles species. Understory trees and shrubs include the laurels Phoebe, Machilus, and Actinodaphne, Polyalthias, Aphanamixis, and cultivated Mesua ferrea and species of mahogany, cashews, nutmegs and magnolias, with