Included here is the Bismarck Archipelago, the Admiralty Islands and the Solomon Islands. All lie within the Pacific zone of Melanesia.

Solomon Islands Montane Forest

No mountains in the Solomons reach above the tree line. The highest uplands zones are the Emperor Range on Bougainville and the Kavo Range on Guadalcanol and both are forested to their summits. Unlike the montane rainforests of New Guinea these forests are not characterized by an abundance of Nothofagus, Castanopsis or Araucaria species, and in fact mid-montane fagaceous and Araucaria forests are absent. Instead members of the Myrtaceae including genera such as Acmena, Eugenia, Mearnsia, Metrosideros and Rhodamnia dominate. The epiphyte flora includes four endemic rhododendrons, which is of interest because apart from these, species of Ericaceae are absent from the Solomons. Other endemic species include the two small trees Myristica petiolata (Myristicaceae) and Osmoxylon arrhenicum (Araliaceae). These formations are extremely rich in bryophytes and often the forest floor and tree trunks have a ‘mossy’ layer up to 30 cm thick.

References

Allum, J. A. E. 1969. Notes on the evolution of the British Solomon Islands Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 203-205.

Balgooy, Van. M. M. J. 1960. Preliminary plant geographical analysis of the Pacific. Blumea, 10: 385-430.

Brookfield, H. C. 1969. Some notes on the climate of the British Solomon Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 207-210.

Burslem, D. F. R. P., Whitmore, T. C. & Denmark, N. 1998. A thirty-year record of forest dynamics from Kolombangara, Solomon Islands. In: Forest Biodiversity Research, Monitoring and Modeling. Eds. F. Dallmeier and J. A. Comiskey. Man and the Biosphere Series, Volume 40. The Parthenon Publishing Group.

Good, R. 1969. Some phytogeographical relationships of the angiosperm flora of the British Solomon Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 603-608.

Hunt, P. F. 1969. Orchids of the Solomon Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 581-587.

Lee, K. E. 1969. Some soils of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 211-257.

Merlin, M. D. & Juvik, J. O. 1995. Montane cloud forest in the tropical Pacific: some aspects of their floristics, biogeography, ecology, and conservation. In: Tropical Montane Cloud Forests. Eds.  L. S. Hamilton, J. O. Juvik and F. N. Scatena. Ecological Studies 10. Springer-Varlag.

Moore, H. E. 1969. A preliminary analysis of the palm flora of the Solomon Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 589-593.

Mueller-Dombois, D. & Fosberg, F. R. 1998. Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands. Springer.

Paijmans, K. 1973. Plant succession on Pago and Witori Volcanoes, New Britain. Pacific Science, 27: 260-268.

Schmid, M. 1978. The Melanesian forest ecosystems (New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Fiji Islands and Solomon Islands. In: Tropical forest ecosystems. Natural Resources Research Vol. XIV. UNESCO

Schmid, M. 1989. The forests in the tropical Pacific archipelagoes. In: Ecosystems of the World 14B - Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems.  Elsevier.

Thorne, R. F. 1969. Floristic relationships between New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 595-602.

Whitmore, T. C. 1969. Land Flora (Solomon Islands) Geography of the flowering plants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 549-566.

Whitmore, T. C. 1969. The vegetation of the Solomon Islands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B255: 259-270.