Pagdanan Range lowland rainforest
The rolling hills around the Barbacan River in the Pagdanan Range (fig. 9, locality 26) supported a well-developed mixed lowland rainforest characterized by a relatively high density of Dipterocarpus gracilis and D. hasseltii. Top soils were unusually thin in the forest with only about one centimetre of leaf litter and humus over the yellow or red underlying laterite. Seventeen other large diameter trees and about 50 species of small trees were collected (table15) , making this one of the most species rich forest types seen. Figs were an important part of the understory with Ficus chrysolepis subsp. chrysolepis, F, crassiramea, F. laevicarpa, F. variegata, F. villosa. Some of the most important of these emergents were Dracontomelon dao, Litsea sp. , Neonauclea calycina, Syzygium spp., Parinari aff. canaroides and what may be a new species of Mangifera related to M. altissima, in both cases new records for Palawan.
A rich liana flora was also found, with seventeen species collected. Diplectris divaricata was a new record for Palawan. The shrub and herb layer was dense only along river banks. Myrmeconauclea strigosa was often encountered.
Within the forest, Curciligo sp., tree-ferns, Pyrrosia longifolia and Tectaria irregularis were common in the ground layer. Large Pandanus sp. grew in flooded areas.
