Kerala - Parambikulam

Shola Forests Shola forests are unique montane vegetation occupying temperate habitats in tropical latitude and are communities restricted to valley and depressions especially along the folds of hills. Karimala hills of this sanctuary has some resembling characteristics of this type. The forest restricted to Karimala hills, is not a true shola, according to forest type description, but it shows important characters of shola plants i.e., stunted short boled highly branched trees, clothed with mosses and other epiphytes. Woody climbers are few. There is no stratification for trees and leaves are mostly small. The species growing in this type of forests are given below. Trees: Cinnamomum sulphuratum, Euonymus indicus, Ligustrum robustum (rox burghii), Mesua indica, Symplocos cochinchinensis, etc. Epiphytes (Orchids): Lycopodium phlegmaria, Bulbophyllum fusco-purpureum, Bulbophyllum tremulum, Eria clavicaulis, Eria reticulate, Oberonia denticulata, Oberonia lindleyana, Dendrobium chlorops, Dendrobium nutans, D.viridiflora etc. Ground Vegetation: Impatiens parasitica, Peperomia tetraphylla and other species of palatable grasses are in abundance. One can witness this type of forests while trekking to the Karimala Gopuram through High Range Hiking (Hard trek) package. KERALA TRIP