A Mediterranean Forest in Barcelona 1
Find out all about Mediterranean trees and shrubs on this walk through the Botanical Gardens of Barcelona.
General image of the Botanical Garden of BarcelonaBarcelona Natural Science Museum
Mediterranean vegetation grows on all five continents, although it is named after the Mediterranean basin—the largest region of the Mediterranean and the place where Western civilization originated.
General image of the Botanical Garden of BarcelonaBarcelona Natural Science Museum
Besides being a route for the region's cultural expansion, the sea is the reason for its milder climate with relatively hot and cold temperatures, equinoctial rains, and dry summers.Keep reading to find out more about trees of the Mediterranean forest.
Canary Island pineBarcelona Natural Science Museum
1. Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis)
The Mediterranean region has a wide variety of habitats, and tree and shrub species, as a result of their adaptive plasticity and ability to colonize diverse environments. The Canary Island pine has adapted to the islands' volcanicity, in the sense that it is extremely resistant to fire and is one of the few types of pine tree that can resprout.
OliveBarcelona Natural Science Museum
2. Olive tree (Olea europaea)
These trees dominate the landscape, as long as the conditions are not too extreme. They are colonizers, taking over large areas of land. Humans have intervened in the landscape since ancient times, shaping what we see today by replacing many of the wild olive and mastic trees that once grew in coastal areas with vineyards and cultivated olive trees.
Bread palmsBarcelona Natural Science Museum
3. South African cycad (Encephalartos sp.)
Evolutionary stagnation and geographical isolation explain the existence of these so-called living fossils—peculiar plants that do not flower and have remained unchanged up to the present day. Their appearance is deceptive: they are not palm trees or in any way related to them. This can be seen from the cone that forms at the heart of the plant, which is equivalent to the kind found in conifers.
BurrawangBarcelona Natural Science Museum
4. Australian palm (Macrozamia)
Plants such as the Macrozamia were precursors to the evolutionary leap that took place as a result of coevolution between animals and flowers. The plant's enormous strobilus attracts small insects, which busily pollinate it. And there is another reason these plants are so important today: they were also used as early fossil fuels.
Chilean mesquiteBarcelona Natural Science Museum
5. Chilean mesquite (Prosopis chilensis)
The species Prosopis chilensis has adapted to drought, inadequate soil (by forming a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria), and livestock grazing (with animals dispersing its fruit via their digestive tract). It has protected itself from being devoured by herbivores by growing spines.
Paperbark thornBarcelona Natural Science Museum
6. Acacia sieberiana (Acacia [Vachellia] sieberiana)
The Acacia sieberiana is commonly found in the African savannah. It has converged with the Chilean mesquite, developing very similar characteristics. African acacias are popular with the people and animals (mainly giraffes) of the savannah, because of the nutritional value that their fruit, leaves, and sprigs offer during the long months of summer drought.
ArganiaBarcelona Natural Science Museum
7. Argan (Argania spinosa)
Argan trees have the same adaptive features of Chilean mesquites and acacias. However, they differ from them in their small, simple, evergreen leaves. Their drupe-like fruit resembles a large olive and, just like an olive, it is rich in oil. Used since ancient times by the Berber people of North Africa, it is now widely sold and used mainly for cosmetic purposes.
ChañarBarcelona Natural Science Museum
8. Chanar (Geoffroea decorticans)
The chanar is known for its two very specific adaptations against fire: its trunk and its roots. The trunk is thick, and its yellowish bark peels off in distinctively long, straight strips. It has powerful roots that can produce new shoots, which results in these trees growing together in dense colonies.
Black boyBarcelona Natural Science Museum
9. Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea glauca)
Fire is a recurring phenomenon that coincides with the hot, dry conditions in summer. Some trees protect their main aerial structure—their trunk—with fire-resistant bark. This is true of the cork oak, native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa, but also of a plant as different and distant from it as the Xanthorrhoea, which is native to the arid regions of Australia.
Giant redwoodBarcelona Natural Science Museum
10. Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
The forests of giant sequoias in California's Sierra Nevada mountains experience large forest fires, triggered by a combination of exceptionally dry periods and high biomass. This tree has two fire-resistant adaptations that it alternates between: its ability to resprout and its thick, soft, fire-resistant trunk.
Johnson's grevilleaBarcelona Natural Science Museum
11. Johnson’s grevillea (Grevillea johnsonii)
Many Australian plants are also pyrophytes, which are known for their very distinctive growth pattern. Their branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits grow in such a way that the old parts are discarded and left to dry out, leaving only the new, living parts at the tips of the branches.
Desert fan palmBarcelona Natural Science Museum
12. California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera)
Some palm trees keep their older leaves attached to the lower part of the trunk. This creates a thick mass of leaves around the trunk to protect it from the wind and cold, as well as from extreme heat such as that produced by fire. This is the only palm tree that is native to California and the western United States in general, where ferocious forest fires are common.
Mugga ironbarkBarcelona Natural Science Museum
13. Red ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon)
The bark of a tree not only protects it from fire and cold, but also from attacks by herbivores and wood-boring insects. This is true in the case of the red (or mugga) ironbark tree, whose bark is very hard and rich in toxic substances (tannins). The red resin in its bark is what gives the trunk its color, and its name: red ironbark.
DragoBarcelona Natural Science Museum
Do you want to know more trees?
The exhibition continues here.
Text by David Bertran, curator of living plant collections at the Botanical Gardens of Barcelona (Jardí Botànic de Barcelona). Photography by Pere Vivas.
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