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Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard
leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...
, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. The word comes from the Greek ''sklēros'' (hard) and ''phyllon'' (leaf). The term was coined by A.F.W. Schimper in 1898 (translated in 1903), originally as a synonym of
xeromorph A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or the ...
, but the two words were later differentiated. Sclerophyllous plants occur in many parts of the world, but are most typical of areas with low rainfall or seasonal droughts, such as Australia, Africa, and western North and South America. They are prominent throughout Australia, parts of
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, the
Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are th ...
biogeographic region of
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, Paraguay and Brazil, and in the Mediterranean biomes that cover the Mediterranean Basin, California,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and the
Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...
of South Africa. In the Mediterranean basin, holm oak,
cork oak ''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 olives are typical hardwood trees. In addition, there are several species of pine under the trees in the vegetation zone. The shrub layer contains numerous herbs such as rosemary, thyme and lavender. In relation to the potential natural vegetation, around 2% of the earth's land surface is covered by sclerophyll woodlands, and a total of 10% of all plant species on earth live there.


Description

Sclerophyll
woody plant A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until ...
s are characterized by their relatively small, stiff, leathery and long-lasting leaves. The sclerophyll vegetation is the result of an adaptation of the flora to the summer dry period of a Mediterranean-type climate. Plant species with this type of adaptation tend to be evergreen with great longevity, slow growth and with no loss of leaves during the unfavorable season. To note, "sclerophyll" and "evergreen" are not synonymous. As a result, the
thicket A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in th ...
s that make up these ecosystems are of the persistent evergreen type, in addition to the predominance of plants, even
herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition o ...
ones, with "hard" leaves, which are covered by a thick leathery layer called the
cuticle A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...
, that prevents water loss during the dry season. The aerial and underground structures of these plants are modified to make up for water shortages that may affect their survival. The name sclerophyll derives from the highly developed sclerenchyma from the plant, which is responsible for the hardness or stiffness of the leaves. This structure of the leaves inhibits transpiration and thus prevents major water losses during the dry season. Most of the plant species in the sclerophyll zone are not only insensitive to summer drought, they have also used various strategies to adapt to frequent
wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
, heavy rainfall and nutrient deficiencies.


Ecology

The type of sclerophyllic trees in the Palearctic flora region include the holm oak (''
Quercus ilex ''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer. Description An evergreen tr ...
''), myrtle ('' Myrtus communis''), strawberry tree (''
Arbutus unedo ''Arbutus unedo'' is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe. The tree is well known for its fruits, which bear some resemblance to the strawberry — hence the common name ...
''), wild olive (''
Olea europaea The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
''), laurel ('' Laurus nobilis''), mock privet (''
Phillyrea latifolia ''Phillyrea latifolia'', commonly known as green olive tree or mock privet, is a species of tree in the family Oleaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin, from Morocco and Portugal in the west, to the Levant The Levant () is an ...
''), the Italian buckthorn (''
Rhamnus alaternus ''Rhamnus alaternus'' is a species of flowering plant in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae, known by the common names Italian buckthorn or Mediterranean buckthorn. It is a hardy medium-sized evergreen shrub with fragrant flowers. Etymology The s ...
''), etc. * In central and southern California, the coastal hills are covered in sclerophyll vegetation known as chaparral. The flora of this ecoregion also includes tree species
Scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to: *the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species. In California *California scrub oak (''Quercus berberidifolia''), a widespr ...
(''Quercus dumosa''),
California buckeye ''Aesculus californica'', commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon. Description It is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, up to tall, wi ...
(''Aesculus californica''), San Gabriel Mountain liveforever (''Dudlea densiflora''), Catalina mahogany (''Cercocarpus traskiae''), and the threatened jewelflower (''Streptanthus albidus'' ssp. ''Peramoenus''). (material included verbatim under th
CC BY-SA 3.0 license
/ref> * In South Africa, in the Cape region, there are Mediterranean open forests known as fynbos. The abundance of endemics is so extraordinary (68% of the 8600 vascular plant species in the area) that the South African sclerophyll area, the cape flora, forms the smallest of the six flora kingdoms on earth. Plants include ''
Elegia Elegia may refer to: * The Latin term for " elegy" * ''Elegia'' (moth), a snout moth genus in subfamily Phycitinae * ''Elegia'' (plant), a South African plant genus in family Restionaceae * , 1979 Polish film directed by Paweł Komorowski * Ele ...
'', '' Thamnochortus'', and '' Willdenowia'' and proteas such as king protea ('' Protea cynaroides'') and blushing bride ('' Serruria florida''). * In most of Australia, sclerophyll vegetation such as eucalyptus trees, melaleucas,
banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...
s,
callistemon ''Callistemon'' is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae, first described as a genus in 1814. The entire genus is endemic to Australia but widely cultivated in many other regions and naturalised in scattered locations. Their status as a s ...
s and
grevillea ''Grevillea'', commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the b ...
s dominate the mallee and woodland areas of its cities, including those lacking a Mediterranean climate, such as Sydney, Melbourne,
Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...
and
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the Sou ...
. * In Chile, south of the desert areas, there is evergreen bushland called matorral. Typical species include Litre ''(Lithraea venenosa)'', Quillay or Soapbark Tree ''( Quillaja saponaria)'', and bromeliads of genus '' Puya''.


Climate

The sclerophyll regions are located in the outer subtropics bordering the temperate zone (also known as the warm-temperate zone). Accordingly, the annual average temperatures are relatively high at 12–24 °C; An average of over 18 °C is reached for at least four months, eight to twelve months it is over 10 °C and no month is below 5 °C on average.
Frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above- freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a ga ...
and snow occur only occasionally and the growing season lasts longer than 150 days and is in the winter half-year. The lower limit of the moderate annual precipitation is 300mm ( semi-arid climate) and the upper limit 900–1000 mm. Generally, the summers are dry and hot with a dry season of a maximum of seven months, but at least two to three months. The winters are rainy and cool. However, not all regions with sclerophyll vegetation feature the classic Mediterranean climate; parts of eastern Italy, eastern Australia and eastern South Africa, which feature sclerophyll woodlands, tend to have uniform rainfall or even a more summer-dominant rainfall, whereby falling under the humid subtropical climate zone (''Cfa''/''Cwa''). Furthermore, other areas with sclerophyll flora would grade to the oceanic climate (''Cfb''); particularly the eastern parts of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa, and Tasmania,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seyche ...
and southern New South Wales in Australia.


Distribution

The zone of the sclerophyll vegetation lies in the border area between the
subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...
and the temperate zone, approximately between the 30th and 40th degree of
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pole ...
(in the northern hemisphere also up to the 45th degree of latitude). Their presence is limited to the coastal western sides of the continents, but nonetheless can typical in any regions of a continent with scarce annual precipitation or frequent seasonal droughts and poor soils that are heavily leached. The sclerophyll zone often merges into temperate deciduous forests towards the poles, on the coasts also into
temperate rainforest Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American Pac ...
s and towards the equator in hot semi-deserts or deserts. The Mediterranean areas, which have a very high
biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') le ...
, are under great pressure from the population. This is especially true for the Mediterranean region since ancient times. Through overexploitation (logging, grazing, agricultural use) and frequent fires caused by people, the original forest vegetation is converted. In extreme cases, the hard-leaf vegetation disappears completely and is replaced by open rock heaths. Some sclerophyll areas are closer to the equator than the Mediterranean zone—for example, the interior of Madagascar, the dry half of New Caledonia, the lower edge areas of the
Madrean pine-oak woodlands The Madrean Region (named after the Sierra Madre Occidental) is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in North America, as delineated by Armen Takhtajan and Robert F. Thorne. It occupies arid or semiarid areas in the southwestern Unite ...
of the Mexican highlands between 800 and 1800/2000 m or around 2000 m high plateaus of the
Asir Mountains The Asir Mountains ( ar, جِبَال عَسِيْر, '; (' Difficult')) is a mountainous region in southwestern Saudi Arabia running parallel to the Red Sea. It comprises areas in the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia, however it also generally incl ...
on the western edge of the
Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
.


Land use

While the winter rain areas of America, South Africa and Australia, with an unusually large variety of
food crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponics ...
, were ideal gathering areas for
hunter gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
s until European colonization, agriculture and
cattle breeding Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, startin ...
spread in the Mediterranean area since the Neolithic, which permanently changed the face of the landscape. In the sclerophyll regions near the coast, permanent crops such as olive and wine cultivation established themselves; However, the landscape forms that characterize the degenerate shrubbery and shrub heaths Macchie and
Garigue Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( el, φρύγανα , 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 Fran ...
are predominantly a result of grazing (especially with goats). In the course of the last millennia, the original vegetation in almost all areas of this vegetation zone has been greatly changed by the influence of humans. Where the plants have not been replaced by vineyards and olive groves, the maquis was the predominant form of vegetation on the Mediterranean. The maquis has been degraded in many places to the low shrub heather, the
garigue Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( el, φρύγανα , 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 Fran ...
. Many plant species that are rich in aromatic oils belong to both vegetation societies. The diversity of the original sclerophyll vegetation in the world is high to extremely high (3000-5000 species per ha).


Australian bush

Most areas of the
Australian continent The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul (), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, Meganesia, or Papualand to distinguish it from the country of Australia, is located within the Southern and Easte ...
able to support woody plants are occupied by sclerophyll communities as forests,
savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
s, or
heathlands A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...
. Common plants include the
Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...
(
grevillea ''Grevillea'', commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the b ...
s,
banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...
s and hakeas), tea-trees,
acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus nam ...
s,
boronia ''Boronia'' is a genus of about 160 species of flowering plants in the citrus family Rutaceae. Most are endemic to Australia with a few species in New Caledonia, which were previously placed in the genus ''Boronella''. They occur in all Australi ...
s, and
eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', '' Stockwellia'', '' Allosy ...
s. The most common sclerophyll communities in Australia are
savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
s dominated by grasses with an overstorey of eucalypts and acacias. Acacia (particularly mulga) shrublands also cover extensive areas. All the dominant overstorey acacia species and a majority of the understorey acacias have a scleromorphic adaptation in which the leaves have been reduced to
phyllode Phyllodes are modified petioles or leaf stems, which are leaf-like in appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the ...
s consisting entirely of the petiole. Many plants of the sclerophyllous woodlands and shrublands also produce leaves unpalatable to herbivores by the inclusion of toxic and indigestible compounds which assure survival of these long-lived leaves. This trait is particularly noticeable in the eucalypt and '' Melaleuca'' species which possess oil glands within their leaves that produce a pungent volatile oil that makes them unpalatable to most browsers. These traits make the majority of woody plants in these woodlands largely unpalatable to domestic livestock. It is therefore important from a grazing perspective that these woodlands support a more or less continuous layer of herbaceous ground cover dominated by grasses. Sclerophyll forests cover a much smaller area of the continent, being restricted to relatively high rainfall locations. They have a eucalyptus overstory (10 to 30 metres) with the understory also being hard-leaved. ''Dry sclerophyll'' forests are the most common forest type on the continent, and although it may seem barren dry sclerophyll forest is highly diverse. For example, a study of sclerophyll vegetation in Seal Creek,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seyche ...
, found 138 species. Even less extensive are ''wet sclerophyll'' forests. They have a taller eucalyptus overstory than dry sclerophyll forests, 30 metres or more (typically mountain ash, alpine ash, rose gum,
karri ''Eucalyptus diversicolor'', commonly known as karri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tall tree with smooth light grey to cream-coloured, often mottled bar ...
,
messmate stringybark ''Eucalyptus obliqua'', commonly known as messmate stringybark or messmate, but also known as brown top, brown top stringbark, stringybark or Tasmanian oak, is a species of tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy or ...
, or
manna gum ''Eucalyptus viminalis'', commonly known as the manna gum, white gum or ribbon gum, is a species of small to very tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-shaped to c ...
, and a soft-leaved, fairly dense understory ( tree ferns are common). They require ample rainfall—at least 1000 mm (40 inches).


Evolution

Sclerophyllous plants are all part of a specific environment and are anything but newcomers. By the time of European settlement, sclerophyll forest accounted for the vast bulk of the forested areas. Most of the wooded parts of present-day Australia have become sclerophyll dominated as a result of the extreme age of the continent combined with Aboriginal fire use. Deep weathering of the crust over many millions of years leached chemicals out of the rock, leaving Australian soils deficient in nutrients, particularly phosphorus. Such nutrient deficient soils support non-sclerophyllous plant communities elsewhere in the world and did so over most of Australia prior to European arrival. However such deficient soils cannot support the nutrient losses associated with frequent fires and are rapidly replaced with sclerophyllous species under traditional Aboriginal burning regimens. With the cessation of traditional burning non-sclerophyllous species have re-colonized sclerophyll habitat in many parts of Australia. The presence of toxic compounds combined with a high carbon : nitrogen ratio make the leaves and branches of scleromorphic species long-lived in the litter, and can lead to a large build-up of litter in woodlands. The toxic compounds of many species, notably Eucalyptus species, are volatile and flammable and the presence of large amounts of flammable litter, coupled with an herbaceous understorey, encourages fire. All the Australian sclerophyllous communities are liable to be burnt with varying frequencies and many of the woody plants of these woodlands have developed adaptations to survive and minimise the effects of fire. Sclerophyllous plants generally resist dry conditions well, making them successful in areas of seasonally variable rainfall. In Australia, however, they evolved in response to the low level of phosphorus in the soil—indeed, many native Australian plants cannot tolerate higher levels of phosphorus and will die if fertilised incorrectly. The leaves are hard due to lignin, which prevents
wilting Wilting is the loss of rigidity of non-woody parts of plants. This occurs when the turgor pressure in non-lignified plant cells falls towards zero, as a result of diminished water in the cells. Wilting also serves to reduce water loss, as it ma ...
and allows plants to grow, even when there is not enough phosphorus for substantial new cell growth.


Regions

These are the biomes or ecoregions in the world that feature an abundance of, or are known for having, sclerophyll vegetation: *
Cumberland Plain Woodland The Cumberland Plain Woodland, or Western Sydney woodland,
*
Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland The Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland, also known as Coastal Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland and Hornsby Enriched Sandstone Exposed Woodland, is a shrubby woodland and mallee community situated in northern parts of Sydney, Australia, where it is ...
* Tasmanian dry sclerophyll forests *
Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests The Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests is an ecoregion in the lands around the Aegean Sea. The ecoregion covers most of mainland Greece, the Greek Aegean Islands (except for Crete), the western coast of Turkey, the southe ...
*
California chaparral and woodlands The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...
*
California coastal sage and chaparral The California coastal sage and chaparral ( es, Salvia y chaparral costero de California) is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion located in southwestern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico). It i ...
* Chilean Matorral *
Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is one of 32 Major Vegetation Groups defined by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. Description " Mallee" refers to the growth habit of a group of (mainly) eucalypt species that ...
*
Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests The Italian sclerophyllous and deciduous forests ecoregion, part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, is in Italy. The ecoregion covers most of the Italian Peninsula and includes both evergreen and deciduous forests. Geogr ...
* Eastern Mediterranean conifer–sclerophyllous–broadleaf forests *
Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests The Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, encompassing coastal lowlands and mountains in ...
* Tyrrhenian–Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests *
Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests The Canary Islands dry woodlands and forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in the Canary Islands. It encompasses the western group of the Canary Islands – La Palma, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife, and Gran Canaria ...
* Mediterranean acacia–argania dry woodlands *
Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe The Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion of North Africa. It occupies interior plateaus and mountain ranges of the Maghreb region, lying generally between the coastal Mediterranean wo ...
* Southeastern Iberian shrubs and woodlands *
Cyprus Mediterranean forests The Cyprus Mediterranean forests is a terrestrial ecoregion that encompasses the island of Cyprus. The island has a Mediterranean climate, and is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome found in the lands in and around the Medit ...
*
Crete Mediterranean forests The Crete Mediterranean forests is a terrestrial ecoregion that encompasses Greek the island of Crete. The island has a Mediterranean climate, and is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome found in the lands in and around the Me ...
* Cape Floristic Region *
Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests The Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests ecoregion, in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, is in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. Lebanon cedar (''Cedrus libani'') is a characteristic tree. Geography The e ...
*
Albany thickets The Albany thickets is an ecoregion of dense woodland in southern South Africa, which is concentrated around the Albany region of the Eastern Cape (whence the region's name originates). Geography The thickets grow on well-drained sandy soils i ...
*
Northwest Iberian montane forests The Northwest Iberian montane forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It lies in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, includes inland mountains, foothills, and plateaus in northwestern Spain and no ...


See also

*
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 ...
*
Chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean ...
* Fynbos * Maquis shrubland *
Garrigue Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( el, φρύγανα , 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 Fran ...
* Kwongan * Matorral *
Barren vegetation Barren vegetation describes an area of land where plant growth may be sparse, stunted, and/or contain limited biodiversity. Environmental conditions such as toxic or infertile soil, high winds, coastal salt-spray, and climatic conditions are of ...


References

{{reflist, 2 Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub California chaparral and woodlands Chilean Matorral Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands Ecology Sclerophyll forests