types of jungle

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by muduri

I had unexpected chances to visit the real-world equivalents of Lopango and Mhair and now want to do justice to my fantasy jungles! Any suggestions for what could differentiate that belt of dark green on every fantasy equator? Climate and terrain are what I'm thinking of first but other factors could count too. So far real and imagined biomes have gotten me this far:

Tropical rainforest: the baseline type.
Highland jungle: similar to the Virunga Mountains or central Papua New Guinea.
Cloud forest: I understand rainfall and moisture patterns might make this a slightly different biome than the above?
Flooded forest: poor drainage and swampy, perhaps in an inland valley bowl and perhaps seasonal.
Coastal swamp: river delta or shallow littoral area.
Deluge forest: noticeably higher rainfall than even typical jungle, e.g., Quibdó in western Columbia.

Primary vs secondary vs recently cleared forest: applicable to any of the above; I understand secondary is, surprisingly, often thicker than primary because the understory hasn't grown up / cleared out? These may show up more on the local maps, and have distinct patterns based on hunter-gatherer, swidden, or continuous-farming cultures.

Enchanted jungle: not a biome but applicable to any of the above.

How do you intend to differentiate between 'jungle' and 'forest/woodland'? I ask because much of New Zealand's bush is rainforest, but it's not tropical (or even warm sometimes). It could be called 'jungle' by some definitions.