Cortegada is an almost

tidal island A tidal island is a raised area of land within a waterbody, which is connected to the larger mainland by a natural isthmus or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being ...

(it is possible to go walking when the lowest tides happen, but a small amount of water flow does not disappear) in a coastal inlet near

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

in Galicia,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is part of the

Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park The Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park (, ) is the only national park located in the province of Pontevedra, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. It comprises the archipelagos of ...

Location

Cortegada island is part of an archipelago that includes the Malveiras Islands or Briñas Islands, Cies, Ons, and Salvora, and—the largest and the most populated one— A Illa de Arousa. Cortegada, due to its location near the mouth of the river Ulla, is sheltered from the wind within an estuary named " ría de Arousa". This and its topography give it environmental conditions more favourable to hydrophilic woodland than the other islands of the National Park. The island is connected to the mainland via a tidal

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

, a trackway 189 metres wide covered at

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

and revealed at low tide. A track was built on the sandbar and it has stabilized a breeding ground for clams as a commercial clam hatchery. The tides in the area change quickly, and can be dangerous for pedestrians on the causeway.

History

Originally the site of a village of the municipally of O Carril (today

Vilagarcía de Arousa Vilagarcía de Arousa (, ) is a municipality in the province of Province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, in Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. As of 2014 it has a population of 37,712, being ninth largest town in Galicia. History The present site of ...

), at the start of the 20th century, Cortegada was expropriated from its 211 tenants, on the initiative of a local businessman, with the intention of building a royal summer retreat. Offered as a present to King

Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII ( Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also ...

, who visited the island just once. in September 1907, Cortegada was sold by his son Don Juan de Borbón in 1978 to a private company. It was recently bought back by the government and added to the

. The island had been inhabited until the late 19th century and used to site a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

and leper house or

lazar house A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

. It has the remains of several stone houses, sheds and storerooms, a 17th-century stone chapel and a dock. The island has been transformed by man. The nutrients supplied by human action created a fertile topsoil. Fertilization due to crops, livestock excrement and bird colonies has caused a change in soil composition favoring some species over others. In 2007, in a TV documentary for public television of Galicia some old people descended from islanders, recalled how the island was divided into farms and agricultural land, without tree cover. The present day laurel woods are descended from isolated examples in orchards.

Characteristics

Cortegada has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

with warm summers, and cool mild winters. The dense moisture from the ocean is precipitating constantly. Warm moist air masses blowing off the ocean are forced upwards by the terrain, which cools the air mass to the

dew point The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to produce a relative humidity of 100%. This temperature depends on the pressure and water content of the air. When the air at a temperature above the ...

, causing the moisture in the air to condense as rain or fog, creating a habitat characterized by cool, moist conditions in the air and soil. The resulting climate is wetter and mild, with the annual oscillation of the temperature moderated by the ocean. It has two main fresh water sources: a seasonal lagoon and subterranean fresh water. This last source is peculiar since the island is surrounded by salt water, everybody can dig a well without effort even near the beach, without the need of digging further than several tens of centimetres, around ten inches at the most. The island is almost flat, its highest elevation is 22 feet high. It has an area of 54 hectares of land with a rectangle shape. Due to the large amount of water in the terrain, it flows in streams everywhere or stay quiet in ponds and puddles. The water drips, cover and soak the plants, rocks, soil, logs, moss etc. and still the water is being impassable the island during heavy rain. However the beauty of the set make it a tourist attraction.

Ecology

Cortegada island is valued by many researchers and scientists, as well as by the richness of its sea, for having on its north side the largest

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

bay laurel ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...

that exists in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. ''Ligustrum'', ''Buxus'', and

bitter orange The bitter orange, sour orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the hybrid citrus tree species ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'', and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of th ...

are some other species on Cortegada with laurel tree shape. From a distance, the island appears to be completely covered with dense woodland; it is renowned for having the last wild laurel forest of Galicia as well as a mixed population of stone pine (''

Pinus pinea The Italian stone pine, botanical name ''Pinus pinea'', also known as the Mediterranean stone pine is a tree from the pine family (''Pinaceae''). The tree is native to the Mediterranean region, occurring in Southern Europe and the Levant. The ...

'') and maritime pine (''

Pinus pinaster ''Pinus pinaster'', the maritime pine or cluster pine, is a pine native to the south Atlantic Europe region and parts of the western Mediterranean. It is a hard, fast growing pine bearing small seeds with large wings. Description ''Pinus pinast ...

''), and a large

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

forest with ''

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It ...

'', ''

Quercus suber ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the core ...

'', and '' Quercus pyrenaica''. This forest formerly covered much of the coast and coastal mountains of the mainland surrounding and other Atlantic islands in the area with locally favourable wet climate microenvironments, but those forests have been much reduced in extent by

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksagriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

, and the invasion of exotic species. The type forests are made up of laurel-leaved

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 ...

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s, reaching up to 40 m in height when older. Many of the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to islands, and harbour a rich biota of

understorey In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but above ...

plants,

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, some species of lizards ('' Lacerta lepida'', '' Podarcis bocagei'', ''

Chalcides striatus The western three-toed skink (''Chalcides striatus'') is a species of lizard with tiny legs in the family Scincidae. It is found in the Iberian Peninsula, southern France and parts of northwestern Italy. Its natural habitats are temperate forests ...

''), slowworms ('' Anguis fragilis''), and snakes, ('' Elaphe scalaris'', '' Coronella girondica'', '' Natrix maura''). The island has some goats and wild boars (''

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is n ...

''), wild horses lived there until recently ('' Crocidura russula'', ''

Erinaceus europaeus The European hedgehog (''Erinaceus europaeus''), also known as the West European hedgehog or common hedgehog, is a hedgehog species native to Europe from Iberia and Italy northwards into Scandinavia and westwards into the British Isles.Harris, S. ...

'', '' Talpa occidentalis''), bats ('' Pipistrellus pipistrellus'', '' Eptesicus serotinus'', '' Rhinolophus ferrumequinum''), feral cats (''Felix catus''), feral mink ('' Mustela vison''), rabbits, mice, rats and

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s such as Iberian chiffchaff, the coal tit, the

great tit The great tit (''Parus major'') is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of No ...

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...

, Eurasian wryneck, collared dove, common wood pigeon, blackbird, '' Scolopax rusticola'', greenfinch, warbler, finch, saithe, stonechat, robin, goldfinch, wagtail, black redstart, buzzard, goshawk, and peregrine falcon. Besides many seabirds species such as

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

s and shorebirds take refuge on the island and several species of

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

s nest in the breeding season. The

scrubland 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 o ...

is formed mainly of autochthonous species, like

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...

, spurge flax (''

Thymelaea ''Thymelaea'' (the sparrow-worts) is a genus of about 30 species of evergreen shrubs and herbs in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae, native to the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean region, north to central Europe, and east to central Asia ...

''), rockrose (

Cistaceae The Cistaceae are a small family of plants (rock-rose or rock rose family) known for their beautiful shrubs, which are profusely covered by flowers at the time of blossom. This family consists of about 170(-200) species in eight genera that are ...

), sea pink ('' Armeria maritima''), spiny thrift ('' Armeria pungens''), '' Corema album'', etc. Typically the

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

flora like rushes and other grow in the area of the lagoon and the ponds. The

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

supports a diverse understorey of

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s such as '' Davallia canariensis'' (a Macaronesian epilithic fern species) and

bryophyte Bryophytes () are a group of embryophyte, land plants (embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic Division (taxonomy), division referred to as Bryophyta ''Sensu#Common qualifiers, sensu lato'', that contains three groups of non-vascular pla ...

s, which require moisture for reproduction, this vegetation besides cover the ruins of the old stone houses with mosses, lichens and creepers. There are numerous

herbaceous plants Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials. Definition ...

such as genus ''

Sedum ''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succule ...

'', '' Teucrium scorodonia'', stinking iris ('' Iris foetidissima''), '' Xolantha guttata'', '' Melissa officinalis'', '' Symphytum officinalis'', '' Vinca difformis'', '' Aeonium sp.'', ''

Hyacinthoides ''Hyacinthoides'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, known as bluebells. Systematics ''Hyacinthoides'' is classified in the subfamily Scilloideae (now part of the family Asparagaceae, but formerly treated as a separate f ...

sp.'' etc. and several species of grasses.http://www.parquenacionalillasatlanticas.com/spa/informacion_saber_mas.php?nar1=28 Some

climbing plants like asparagus species and

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

s as ''

Hedera helix ''Hedera helix'', the common ivy, European ivy, King's Choice ivy, or just ivy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae. It is native to most of Europe and parts of western Asia. Ivy is a clinging evergreen vine that grows on t ...

'', or '' Hedera iberica''. Various feral fruit trees species occur, such as apple, plum and pear trees, ''

Citrus aurantium The bitter orange, sour orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the hybrid citrus tree species ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'', and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of th ...

'', ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern ...

'',

common fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and is ...

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

, Chesnut. The trees ''

Salix atrocinerea ''Salix atrocinerea'', commonly called grey willow or large gray willow, is a species of willow. It is a bush or small tree up to tall. As a pioneer species of willow, it quickly colonizes poor soils. Distribution The grey willow distribution ...

'', ''

Alnus glutinosa ''Alnus glutinosa'', the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family (biology), family Betulaceae, native plant, native to most of Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. ...

'', ''

Platanus × hispanica The London plane, or sometimes hybrid plane, ''Platanus'' × ''hispanica'', is a tree in the genus ''Platanus''. It is often known by the synonym ''Platanus'' × ''acerifolia'', a later name. It is a hybrid of '' Platanus orientalis'' ...

'' ''

Populus nigra ''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of Populus sect. Aigeiros, cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea' ...

'',

Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

, and

allochthonous River ecosystems are flowing waters that drain the landscape, and include the biotic (living) interactions amongst plants, animals and micro-organisms, as well as abiotic (nonliving) physical and chemical interactions of its many parts.Angelier ...

Cupressaceae Cupressaceae or the cypress family is a family of conifers. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecio ...

are widespread, as are the bird-dispersed shrubs ''

Ligustrum A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each ...

'', honeysuckle ''

Lonicera periclymenum ''Lonicera periclymenum'', common names honeysuckle, common honeysuckle, European honeysuckle, or woodbine, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae native to much of Europe, North Africa, Turkey and the Caucasus. It is foun ...

'', '' Prunus lusitanica'', ''

Prunus spinosa ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is an Old World species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is locally naturalized in parts of the New World. The fruits are used to make sloe gin in Britain and patxaran in B ...

'', ''

Crataegus monogyna ''Crataegus monogyna'', known as common hawthorn, whitethorn, one-seed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It grows to about tall, producing plant sexuality, hermaphrodite flowers i ...

'', ''

Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' ('' s.str.'') are commonly known as rowan or mountain-ash. The genus used to include species commonly known as whitebeam, cheque ...

'', ''

Buxus ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...

'', '' Osyris'', European Mistletoe, ''Cornus'', ''

Taxus baccata ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family (botany), family Taxaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, as well as Northwest Africa, and parts of Southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Bri ...

'', ''Ulex europaeus'' subsp. ''latebracteatus'', ''Rubus ulmifolius'', ''Tamus communis'', and ''

Ilex aquifolium ''Ilex aquifolium'', the holly, common holly, English holly, European holly, or occasionally Christmas holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest As ...

''. There are two constituent species in the genus ''Laurus'' ''

Laurus nobilis ''Laurus nobilis'' is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth) leaves. It is in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. According to Flora Cretica (Kleinsteuber Books, 2024, ISBN 978-3-9818110-5-6) the stem can be 1 ...

'' and '' Laurus azorica'' known as Azores Laurel, a native to the

laurel forest Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and el ...

s of the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, was also locally introduced in Cortegada Island. These recent forest are young yet with trees 18–20 m tall following the eviction of the last inhabitants. Ferns, liverworts, mosses and lichens grow up the trunks and branches. Creepers and vines complete the tangle. A recent study found considerable genetic diversity within ''L. nobilis'', and that '' L. azorica'' is not genetically or morphologically distinct. This populations like the Cortegada Island population, famous for its large grove of laurels, come from seeds dispersed by birds but is not indigenous to the island, as this islander forest originated spontaneously from laurel specimens that were planted after the original vegetation was destroyed. The location of the Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean maintained the humid and relatively mild climate which has allowed these forests to persist to the present day, although autochthonous vegetation was almost entirely cleared for orchards, wheat fields, subsistence crops and exotic timber plantations of eucalyptus, mostly

Eucalyptus globulus ''Eucalyptus globulus'', commonly known as southern blue gum or blue gum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is a tall, evergreen tree Endemism, endemic to southeastern Australia. This ''Eucalyptus'' species has most ...

, pine and oak in the past. The forest regenerated easily, its decline was due to the tremendous pressure it supported. The most common epilithic plants are '' Umbilicus rupestris'' and the ferns '' Polypodium interjectum'' and ''Davallia canariensis''. The willows are very numerous and the laurels of Cortegada live in the soils with standing water. The understorey of these Laurel forest is low, falling almost to the ground lined with ivy, along with some wood-sage plants ('' Teucrium scorodonia'') and snakeroot ('' Arisarum vulgare''). Willows (''

'') occupy the eastern part of the island in permanently or temporarily waterlogged soils as the only tree species, mono-specific forest, and on the west side are mixed with alder (''

''). The Marsh Vegetation provides food for the large herbivores.

Gallery

File:Isla de Cortegada Vela Latina.JPG, Sailboating near the island File:Isla de Cortegada.JPG, Beach of the island File:Cortegada mosteiro.PNG, Cruceiro (Cross) File:O_Carril_-_Sinal_-_Illas_Malveiras_-_Illas_Bri%C3%B1as_e_illa_de_Cortegada-19.jpg, Malveiras and Briñas islands (Cortegada right) File:Guindastre_no_porto_do_Carril_coa_illa_Cortegada_de_fondo-3.jpg, Island from the nearby port of O Carril, in

References

{{Authority control Islands of Galicia (Spain)