Modern pollen-vegetation relationships are crucial for interpreting fossil pollen records, but systematic pollen assemblages' comparisons between topsoil and moss remain scarce in subtropical China. To address this gap, we conducted a detailed palynological analysis of 43 samples from the low mountainous regions surrounding Yuelu Mountain in Changsha city, Hunan Province. We integrated multiple statistical methods to (i) describe differences between topsoil and moss pollen assemblages, (ii) identify the key drivers of these differences. Results demonstrate: (1) Compared to topsoil samples, moss samples pollen assemblages better characterize local vegetation assemblages, as they capture a recent and less disturbed pollen rain, leading to higher pollen accumulation rates. The pollen assemblages from topsoil samples reveal a long-term and selectively preserved assemblage. Therefore, moss is the preferred deposited medium for high-resolution, small-scale vegetation reconstruction. (2) Pollen indicators such as Liquidambar and Lamiaceae, along with the proportion of synanthropic pollen (mainly Artemisia, Poaceae, and Brassicaceae), show a positive correlation with the intensity of human disturbance, a pattern associated with local cultivation practices. (3) The composition of modern pollen assemblages differs significantly across major vegetation types, specifically between coniferous-broadleaved mixed forests and evergreen-deciduous broadleaved mixed forests. This study provides a systematic modern pollen dataset from the low mountainous areas of central Hunan and clarifies the functional distinctions between topsoil and moss samples as pollen traps. Our findings highlight the advantage of moss-based sampling for highresolution paleovegetation reconstruction in subtropical ecosystems, thereby providing an enhanced methodological foundation for future paleoenvironmental studies in the region.