Abstract: Mangshan is located on the South Range Mountains in Yichang County, Hunan province at 24°57’N and 112°59’E with an altitude of 1,922m. There are well preserved large area natural forests in this area which can be regarded as a typical representative of the vegetation of the South Range Mountains. The flora, composition, layer, synusia and structure, life form and bud form of the vegetation as well as its relation to the habitat have been comprehensively studied. The flora belongs to that of a transitional and convergent area between the Boreal and Palaeotropic. At the lower altitude, the fundamental elements of flora are similar to those in the Indo-China Peninsula-South China area, and form the northern margin of it, the chief elements of evergreen broad leaved forest being Lithocarpus, Castanopsis, Manglietia, Miche-lia, Exbucklandia, Altingia, etc., with some typical tropic elements, such as Annonaceae, Combretaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Apocaceae(Alyxia), Lauraceae(Beilschmeidia), Moraceae (Artocarpus), Guttiferae, etc. At the medium altitude, the forests are rich in Boreal elements, i. e., elements growing in the North temperature zone. Mangshan is also the southern margin of some boreal elements, such as Fagus, Betula, Alnus, Corylus, Sorbus, Malus, etc. According to the study of the communities, the species compositions of evergreen broad leaved forest are abundant; there are 79 tree species (including seedlings) within a small area of 2,000m2. Most of the tree bark is greyish white and smooth, the layers are numerous, the synusia complex, and the life form is similar to that of the mountain rain (or seasonal rain) forest in South China. Most bud forms of the trees belong to the few scaled, together with some naked and stipular ones, both of which are tropical. So the evergreen broad leaved forests in this area are different from typical Laurisilva to some extent, which perhaps should be considered as a transitional form between the evergreen broad leaved forest in East China and the mountain rain (or seasonal rain) forest in South China. On sample plots of different communities, trees, shrubs and herbs were measured and important index values counted, the vertical distribution of the vegetation and its relation to the habitat studied, and accordingly a map of model distribution of vegetation was drawn. Owing to its good representation of the forests on the South Range Mountains and its richness in ancient, rare, relic and endemic species, it would be advisable to set up a natural conservation here.