This study aims to find the relationship that would exist between the physiognomy of the forests of western Burundi and the abundance of litter. It was carried out in forests with an altitudinal gradient from the lower level (790 m) to the Afro-subalpine level (2650m). The physiognomy of the ecosystems studied is described and land surfaces have been measured. The characterization of the litter was made on the basis of a system developed especially for this study. Thus, litter abundance was analyzed through the number of elements and litter depth for each forest entity. Comparisons of the variation in basal area and the number of elements and the depth of the litter were made. The calculation of the Pearson correlation coefficient r made it possible to establish linearity between basal area and litter. Based on the results obtained, the application of the methodology was suggested for studies of litter in combination with other forest factors, in particular the richness of soil arthropods.