FORESTRY IN UGANDA.

Rain forests.

A rain forest is a place where there is lots of rain. One kind of rain forest is called a temperate rain forest. You can find temperate rain forests where the weather is cool and mild, and very wet. Just a few kinds of evergreen trees grow there. Most of Uganda's rain forests are tropical rain forests with many kinds of trees.

Tropical rain forests grow in warm places near the equator. The equator is an imaginary line that goes around the middle of the planet.

Different kinds of plants grow in different layers of a tropical rain forest. The ground in a rain forest is called the forest floor. The soil on the forest floor is very thin and poor. Some plants living there get their food from dead plants. Other plants on the ground eat insects.

The plant layer just above the forest floor is called the under-story. Not much sunlight gets down to this layer. Young trees and plants that like low levels of light grow in the shady understory.

The top layer of the rain forest is called the canopy. The tops of tall trees make up the canopy. They capture most of the sun and rainwater falling on the forest. The canopy is thick and green.

Between the understory and the canopy is a layer called the midstory. Medium-size trees grow in the midstory. Thick vines climb up, around, and between the trees. Mosses, orchids, and other air plants (plants without ground roots) grow on the midstory trees.