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Garrigue
Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( , n. pl.), is a type of low scrubland ecoregion and plant community in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. It is found on limestone soils in southern France and around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast where the moderated Mediterranean climate provides annual summer drought. It is an anthropogenic degradation and succession form of former evergreen oak forests that existed until around 2500 years BCE. The term has also found its way into haute cuisine, suggestive of the resinous flavours of a garrigue shrubland. Habitat and vegetation UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre described garrigue as "discontinuous bushy associations of the Mediterranean calcareous plateaus, which have relatively alkaline soils. It is often composed of kermes oak, lavender, thyme, and white cistus. There may be a few isolated trees." Garrigue is discontinuous with widely spaced bush associations wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garrigue 2007-09-20
Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( , n. pl.), is a type of low scrubland ecoregion and plant community in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. It is found on limestone soils in southern France and around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast where the moderated Mediterranean climate provides annual summer drought. It is an anthropogenic degradation and succession form of former evergreen oak forests that existed until around 2500 years BCE. The term has also found its way into haute cuisine, suggestive of the resinous flavours of a garrigue shrubland. Habitat and vegetation UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre described garrigue as "discontinuous bushy associations of the Mediterranean calcareous plateaus, which have relatively alkaline soils. It is often composed of kermes oak, lavender, thyme, and white cistus. There may be a few isolated trees." Garrigue is discontinuous with widely spaced bush associations with op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kermes Oak
''Quercus coccifera'', the kermes oak or commonly known as Palestine oak, is an oak shrub or tree in section '' Ilex'' of the genus. It has many synonyms, including ''Quercus calliprinos''. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus and Turkey, crossing Spain, Italy, Libya, the Balkans, and Greece, including Crete. The Kermes oak was historically important as the food plant of '' Kermes'' scale insects, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained. The etymology of the specific name ''coccifera'' is related to the production of red cochineal (crimson) dye and derived from Latin coccum which was from Greek κόκκος, the kermes insect. The Latin -fera means 'bearer'. Description ''Quercus coccifera'' is usually a shrub less than high, rarely a small tree, reaching tall (with specimens recorded in Kouf, Libya). Gallery File:Quercus coccifera (14).JPG, Trunk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or it may be a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by regular natural disturbance such as fire or browsing (predation), browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for human habitation because of the danger of fire. The term was coined in 1903. Shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers, and fire-induced germination. Botanical structural form In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a much-branched woody plant less than 8 m high, usually with many plant stem, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, And Scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub is a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters, although in some areas rainfall may be uniform. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near colder seas. Winters are typically mild to cool in low-lying locations but can be cold in inland and higher locations. All these ecoregions are highly distinctive, collectively harboring 10% of the Earth's plant species. Distribution The Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome mostly occurs in, but not limited to, the Mediterranean climate zones, in the mid-latitudes: * the Mediterranean Basin * the Chilean Matorral * the California chaparral and woodlands * the Fynbos of South Africa * the Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands of Australia The biome is not limited to the Mediterranean climate zone. It can also be present in other climate zones (which typically border the Mediterr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Climate
A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typically have dry summers and wet winters, with summer conditions being hot and winter conditions typically being mild. These weather conditions are typically experienced in the majority of Mediterranean-climate regions and countries, but remain highly dependent on proximity to the ocean, altitude and geographical location. The dry summer climate is found throughout the warmer middle latitudes, affecting almost exclusively the western portions of continents in relative proximity to the coast. The climate type's name is in reference to the coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea, which mostly share this type of climate, but it can also be found in the Atlantic portions of Iberia and Northwest Africa, the Pacific portions of the United States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Ilex
''Quercus ilex'', the holly oak, also (ambiguously, as many oaks are evergreen) evergreen oak, is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the section (botany), section ''List of Quercus species#Section Ilex, Ilex'' of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer. Description It is a large evergreen tree, attaining in favourable places a height of , and developing in open situations a huge head of densely leafy branches as much across, the terminal portions of the branches often pendulous in old trees. The tallest recorded, a tree planted at Windsor Great Park, is 30.4 m tall. The trunk is sometimes over in girth. The young shoots are clothed with a close grey felt. The leaves are very variable in shape, most frequently leaf shape, narrowly oval or ovate-lanceolate, long (rarely to 10 cm long), 2–5 cm wide (rarely to 8 cm wide), rounded or broadly tapered at the base, pointed, the margins usually Glossary of botanical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south as tropical Africa, including the Arctic, parts of Asia, and Central America. The highest-known juniper forest occurs at an altitude of in southeastern Tibet and the northern Himalayas, creating one of the highest tree lines on earth. Description Junipers vary in size and shape from tall trees, tall, to columnar or low-spreading shrubs with long, trailing branches. They are evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ... with needle-like and/or scale-like leaves. They can be either monoecious or dioecious. The female Conif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cistus
''Cistus'' (from the Greek ''kistos'') is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species (Ellul ''et al.'' 2002). They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands. ''Cistus'', with its many hybrids and cultivars, is commonly encountered as a garden flower. The common name rockrose (rock rose in the UK) is applied to the species, a name also shared by the related genera '' Helianthemum'' and '' Tuberaria'', all in the family Cistaceae. The common name ''gum cistus'' is applied to resin-bearing species, especially ''C. ladanifer''. Sometimes known as 'Pheasant's Compromise' Description The leaves are evergreen, opposite, simple, usually slightly rough-surfaced, 2–8 cm long. In a few species (notably ''C. ladanifer''), the leaves are coated with a highly aromatic resin called labdanum. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thyme
Thyme () is a culinary herb consisting of the dried aerial parts of some members of the genus ''Thymus (plant), Thymus'' of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are native to Eurasia and north Africa. Thymes have culinary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. The species most commonly cultivated and used for culinary purposes is ''Thymus vulgaris'', native to Southeast Europe. History Thymus serpyllum, Wild thyme grows in the Levant, where it might have been first cultivated. Ancient Egyptians used common thyme (''Thymus vulgaris'') for embalming. The Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage. The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the Ancient Rome, Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs". In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Rotundifolia
''Quercus rotundifolia'', the holm oak or ballota oak, is an evergreen oak native to the western Mediterranean region, with the majority of the population in the Iberian Peninsula and minor populations in Northwest Africa. The species was first described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1785. It is the typical species of the Iberian ''dehesa'' or ''montado'', where its sweet-astringent acorns are a source of food for livestock, particularly the Iberian pig. Its acorns have also been used for human nourishment since the Neolithic era (7,000 BC). It is placed in section ''Ilex''. Some authors described it as a subspecies of ''Quercus ilex''. Description ''Quercus rotundifolia'' is a medium to large tree, usually in height, but can reach up to with a large, dense, rounded canopy. It has small, leathery, dark-green leaves with a glaucous, densely pubescent underside usually suborbicular to elliptical or lanceolate and are generally spiny to dentate on a younger tree. It has a semi- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
