Garrigues and forest
The forest
The Forest: The primitive forest, where the white or "pubescent" oak reigned supreme, has been in retreat for some eight thousand years. The forest was first opened up for land clearance in Neolithic times, gradually allowing green oaks and box to represent a significant portion of the new natural vegetation. The green oaks were coppiced on a regular basis (for wood, charcoal and industry), reducing the forest to its simplest terms.
The rural exodus in the 20th century reversed the trend, and pines and oaks gradually took possession of areas that had been abandoned, forming young, secondary forests all around.
The five main trees of the Mediterranean forest in arid areas are the green oak, the pubescent oak, the cork oak, the Alep pine and the maritime pine. In the Monts de St-Guilhem-le-Désert there is also a forest of Salzmann pines, a Mediterranean sub-species of the black pine.
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The rural exodus in the 20th century reversed the trend, and pines and oaks gradually took possession of areas that had been abandoned, forming young, secondary forests all around.
The five main trees of the Mediterranean forest in arid areas are the green oak, the pubescent oak, the cork oak, the Alep pine and the maritime pine. In the Monts de St-Guilhem-le-Désert there is also a forest of Salzmann pines, a Mediterranean sub-species of the black pine.
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