Mesoamerican Cloud Forest - Code: Ne4A

The range through tropical Mexico, between 3,300 ft and 11,500 ft  (1,000–3,5000m), receive precipitation not only as rainfall but also as a perpetual billow of cloud and fog cover that emanates humidity resulting in a Koppen climate of (XXXX). This high humidity, of between 47 and 160in ( 1200 and 4000mm) , combined with the very steep nature of the slopes, and  on which this habitat grows, produces frequent landslides and a constant recolonization by cloud forest. In regions of higher rainfall,  the cloud forests have a pretty obvious and logical boundary, the LOWLAND RAINFOREST governed by elevation. In drier regions the boundaries become a much more complex mosaic of isolated patches of cloud forests that cover less than one percent of Mexico,  surrounded by drier forests, in or melange, with the cloud forests being in protected ravines and on steep slopes, and the drier habitats such as DECIDUOUS FOREST or the PINE OAK FORESTS being in areas more exposed to fire or more desiccating winds. The forests themselves can be subdivided into lower montane cloud forests 1000-2500m (3300-8200 ft), and upper montane forest 6,600 ft - 11,500ft (2000-3500 m). Above 3500m up to 3800m, this forest is severely stunted and analogous to the ELFIN FOREST of Central and South America. In Mexico it is so restricted and without distinct bird assemblages, that it is treated as a sub-habitat of this habitat. The lower montane forests subhabitat differs from the upper montane forests sub habitat by having some trees with minor buttress roots and having fewer mosses, bromeliads and other epiphytes, and having more vines than the latter.

The canopies of this evergreen forest are lower than those of the rainforest—trees rarely grow higher than 80 ft. (25m)—and branches extend much lower on the trunk than in trees of Mesoamerican lowland rainforest or Mesoamerican semi-evergreen forest. Because of the constant landslides, the forest is disjointed, with trees of different ages and heights forming a noncontiguous canopy that lets far more light hit the understory than in lowland rainforest. Most of the trees are close relatives of species found in rainforest , such as remiendo (Oreomunnea mexicana), though some like the Mexican hand Tree (Chiranthodendron pentadactylon) are in genera endemic to the cloud forest. The forest is dominated by broad-leaved angiosperms, and a few of these species are very widespread in the southern USA such as American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) and American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). 
Some of the non-angiosperms first evolved before South America and Africa split from Antarctica about 180 million years ago, and therefore have strong Gondwanan affinities such as the Mexican podocarp (Podocarpus matudae), which is a conifer and the Mexican Tree Fern (Cyathea mexicana). Overall pioneer species like the extremely fast-growing cecropias make up a much higher proportion of the canopy than in more stable forests. Bromeliads are also a major component of the cloud forest canopy, and it is rare to see an old tree that is not enveloped by bromeliads and draping mosses.

Because of the open nature of the canopy, there is a strong and irregular sub-canopy as well as a very thick brush layer. In contrast with rainforest, the undergrowth in the cloud forest is extremely thick, made up of many broadleaf saplings and massive-leaved bushes such as Gunnera spp., whose leaves can approach 10 sq. ft. (1m2) in area. Heliconias (which resemble banana plants) are very common in light gaps,. Mexican Climbing Bamboo bamboo forms dense thickets on the ground up to 10 ft. (3m) tall, and species of climbing bamboos reach up into the canopy, though the stands here are nowhere near as dominant as they are in the cloud forests of the Andes or se Brazil. Due to the thick understory, it is nearly impossible to walk through cloud forest away from a trail without a machete to cut a path.