falcatus. Species composition of the Subsaharan laurel forests differs from that of Eurasia. Trees of the Laurel family are less prominent, limited to Ocotea or Beilschmiedia due to exceptional biological and paleoecological interest and the enormous biodiversity mostly but with many endemic species, and the members of the beech family (Fagaceae) are absent. Trees can be up to tall and distinct strata of emergent trees, canopy trees, and shrub and herb layers are present. Tree species include: Real Yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius), Outeniqua Yellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus), White Witchhazel (Trichocladus ellipticus), Rhus chirendensis, Curtisia dentata, Calodendrum capense, Apodytes dimidiata, Halleria lucida, Ilex mitis, Kiggelaria africana, Nuxia floribunda, Xymalos monospora, and Ocotea bullata. Shrubs and climbers are common and include: Common Spikethorn (Maytenus heterophylla), Cat-thorn (Scutia myrtina), Numnum (Carissa bispinosa), Secamone alpinii, Canthium ciliatum, Rhoicissus tridentata, Zanthoxylum capense, and Burchellia bubalina. In the undergrowth grasses, herbs and ferns may be locally common: Basketgrass (Oplismenus hirtellus), Bushman Grass (Stipa dregeana var. elongata), Pigs-ears (Centella asiatica), Cyperus albostriatus, Polypodium polypodioides, Polystichum tuctuosum, Streptocarpus rexii, and Plectranthus spp. Ferns, shrubs and small trees such as Cape Beech (Rapanea melanophloeos) are often abundant along the forest edges. Southeast United States According to the recent study by Box and Fujiwara (Evergreen Broadleaved Forests of the Southeastern United States: Preliminary Description), laurel forests occur in patches in the southeastern United States from southeast Virginia southward to Florida, and west to Texas, mostly along the coast and coastal plain of the Gulf and south Atlantic coast. In the southeastern United States, evergreen Hammock (ecology) (i.e. topographically induced forest islands) contain many laurel forests. These laurel forests occur mostly in moist depression and floodplains, and are found in moist environments of the Mississippi river basin to southern Illinois. In many portions of the coastal plain, a low-lying mosaic topography of white sand, silt, and limestone (mostly in Florida), separate these laurel forests. Frequent fire is also thought to be responsible for the disjointed geography of laurel forests across the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. Despite being located in a humid climate zone, much of the broadleaf Laurel forests in the Southeast USA are semi-sclerophyll in character. The semi-sclerophyll character is due (in part) to the sandy soils and often periodic semi-arid nature of the climate. As one moves south into central Florida, as well as far southern Texas and the Gulf Coastal margin of the southern United States, the