300px, Springtime in Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago along the Pan-American Highway">Santiago.html" ;"title="Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago">Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago along the Pan-American Highway Matorral is a Spanish language, Spanish word, along with ''tomillares'', for shrubland, thicket, or bushes. It is used in naming and describing a

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 typic ...

ecosystem in

Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

Mediterranean region

''Matorral'' originally referred to the matorral shrublands and woodlands in the Mediterranean climate regions of

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 ...

and other Mediterranean Basin countries. These scrub shrublands and woodlands are a

plant community A plant community is a collection or Association (ecology), association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The comp ...

and a distinct

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

. Other common general names for this Mediterranean region shrubland habitat ecosystem are '' maquis'' and ''

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 ...

'' in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, ''macchia Mediterranea'' in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, ''phrygana'' in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, ''mato''

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, ''batha'' in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. The term is now used more broadly to include similar bio-assemblages wherever they occur. In Portugal, the term ''mato'' or ''matagal'' is used to refer to the scrublands, or heaths, that formed on the

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

and

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

schists in the north and central parts of Portugal. Mediterranean ''matorral'' shrublands are often part of a mosaic landscape, interspersed with

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense 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, and ecological functio ...

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 ...

grasslands A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur ...

, and scrublands.

Americas

The term ''matorral'' followed the

Spanish colonization of the Americas The Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1493 on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) after the initial 1492 voyage of Genoa, Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus under license from Queen Isabella ...

and is used to refer to

woodlands and scrub,Jiménez, Héctor E. and Armesto, Juan J. (December 1992) "Importance of the Soil Seed Bank of Disturbed Sites in Chilean Matorral in Early Secondary Succession" ''Journal of Vegetation Science'' 3(5): pp. 579-586, p. 579 as well as xeric shrublands ecosystems in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

,Camargo-Ricalde, Sara Lucía; Dhillion, Shivcharn S. and Grether, Rosaura (October 2002) "Community Structure of Endemic Mimosa Species and Environmental Heterogeneity in a Semi-Arid Mexican Valley"''Journal of Vegetation Science'' 13(5): pp. 697-704

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, and elsewhere. There are Chilean Matorral areas in central Chile, including portions of La Campana National Park. The Central Mexican matorral, Meseta Central matorral, Tamaulipan matorral, and Tehuacán Valley matorral are xeric shrubland ecoregions of Mexico. The Portuguese term ''mato'' was imported to colonial eastern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, where it was used to refer to the great scrublands,

savannas A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient li ...

, and flooded grasslands region called the

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...

, in present-day western

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Popular usage

The regional Mexican band Los Tigres Del Norte used the term ''matorrales'', the plural form of ''matorral'', in its famous song "Pacas De A Kilo," an example of an infamous '' narcocorridos'', or drug ballads.

References

* {{Authority control 01 Environment of the Mediterranean Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub Deserts and xeric shrublands Ecoregions of Europe Ecoregions of Italy Ecoregions of Spain * * Palearctic ecoregions

Mediterranean region

Americas

Popular usage

See also

References