Lawachara National Park covers approximately 1,250 ha (12.5 km2) of semi-evergreen forests of the Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests Biome and mixed deciduous forests of the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Biome. The land was declared a national park by the Bangladesh government on July 7, 1996 under the Wildlife Act of 1974.
Lawachara is about 160 km (99 mi) northeast of Dhaka and 60 km (37 mi) from Sylhet. It is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the town of Srimongal.
The terrain of Lawachara is undulating with scattered 10 to 50 m (33 to 164 ft) hillocks. Locally known as tila, the hillocks are primarily composed of Upper Tertiary soft sandstone. The park is crossed by numerous sandy-bedded streams (locally known as nallah), one of which is the Lawachara tributary, from which the park derived its name.[3]The soil of Lawachara is alluvial brown sandy clay loam to clay loam dating from the Pliocene epoch. Shallow depressions filled with water (haor wetlands) are also a feature of the region as the low-lying areas are often subject to flooding.
The climate of Lawachara is generally pleasant to warm, averaging at 26.8 °C (80.2 °F) in February to 36.1 °C (97.0 °F) in June. The humidity is high throughout the year, and Lawachara experiences frequent rains with occasional cyclonic storms.
Biological diversity in the Lawachara National Park consists of 460 species, of which 167 species are plants, 4 amphibian species, 6 reptile species, 246 bird species, 20 mammal species, and 17 insectspecies. One of this is the critically endangered western hoolock gibbons, of which only 62 individuals remain in the area.
The forest of Lawachara is of a mixed type, with the understory usually composed of evergreens, including Quercus,Syzygium, Gmelina, Dillenia, Grewia, and Ficus. The upper canopy, meanwhile, is mainly composed of tall deciduous trees including Tectona, Artocarpus chaplasha, Tetrameles, Hopea odorata. Toona ciliata, and Pygenum. The original indigenousmixed tropical evergreen vegetation had been removed or replaced in the 1920s. It is now mostly secondary forest with small remnant areas of rich primary forest.
In the undergrowth are bamboo groves of jai bansh (Bambusa burmanica) and muli bansh (Melocanna baccifera),as well as several fern species and other epiphytes.
159 plant species belonging to 123 genera and 60 families were studied in 2010. It includes 78 species of trees, 14 species ofshrubs, 42 species of herbs, and 25 species of climbers. Ficus (fig trees) and Syzygium (brush cherries), each with 7 species, were the most diverse genera. Other notable genera include Terminalia, Dioscorea (yams), Artocarpus, Calamus (rattan palm), Piper (pepper vines), Alpinia, and Curcuma. Threatened indigenous plant species include Bridelia retusa
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