Included here is the Island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Western Madagascan Dry Deciduous Forests of Calcareous Soils

These forests generally have a lower stature than other west Madagascan dry forests. They also have fewer lianas and fewer evergreen species, while trees and shrubs with swollen stems such as Adansonia, Bathiaea and Harpagophytum are more abundant. Protorhus humbertii, P. perrieri, Sideroxylon collinum and species of Albizia and Erythrophysa are some of the more important canopy taxa. The endemic but widely cultivated Delonix regia (Fabaceae)is also part of this community but is now very rare in the wild. A few larger trees occur as emergents such as the endemic Adansonia rubrostipa and A. za (Malvaceae) and the endemic Diospyros perrieri (Ebenaceae) but these tend to grow in deep fissures.

References

Goodman, S. M. & Benstead, J. P. (eds). 2003. The Natural History of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press.

Humbert, H. 1962. Flore de Madagascar et des Comores - Composees. Tomes 1-3. Typographie Firmin-Didot.

Jolly, A., Oberle, P. & Albignac, R. 1984. Key Environments Madagascar. Pergamon Press.

Schatz, G. E. 2001. Generic Tree Flora of Madagascar. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Missouri Botanical Gardens.

White, F. 1983. The Vegetation of Africa. UNESCO.