The action of man, who burned and destroyed the ancient forests that once bordered the Mediterranean basin, has irreparably damaged the natural environment throughout history. Deforestation, carried out in order to create space for farms and pastures, caused progressive desertification and the impoverishment of the soil, which, being exposed, also suffered erosion damage. Under such conditions, the development of tree species becomes increasingly unlikely, while what does tend to establish are new forms of vegetation dominated by low shrubs and subshrubs that replace trees. The degradation of the Mediterranean scrub gives rise to a type of plant formation called garrigue (from the Provençal garigue), dominated by scrub, discontinuous and with wide open spaces with rocky outcrops, and frigana, typical of the most arid seasons. .
Frigana and garrigue are found near the sea and inland, and the plants that make up each formation vary according to the substrate, altitude and phytogeographic area. It is not always easy to distinguish between the two types of vegetation, which often blend gradually with each other, creating intermediate formations often composed of species common to both habitats.
The plants that make up these phytocoenoses show the most common adaptations to arid situations, such as sclerophyll, which limits water losses through evaporation and transpiration, and microphyll, which is usually accompanied by thorns and aromatic substances that discourage herbivores. . Despite the difficult living conditions, these environments have many species rich in plant life, mainly annual herbs that bloom in spring and die in summer, or bulbous plants that manage to flourish and survive thanks to their underground reserve organs. Among the families of plants most typical of garrigues and caddisflies are the Leguminosae, Euphorbiaceae, Labiatae, Compositae, Liliaceae and Orchidaceae. Although most of the shrubby and fruit-bearing vegetation in the Mediterranean regions is of secondary origin (that is, the result of anthropic action on the original forests), there are also particular situations in which these formations represent the highest stage of evolution of local vegetation. . Their destruction leads to the formation of dry grasslands dominated by Graminaceae and maintained in this state by grazing.
The frigana, or thorny garrigue, is a semi-natural biocenosis; that is to say, a formation composed of spontaneous species that develop thanks to grazing and fires. It is made up of low, hemispherical, densely and intricately branched shrubs reaching a maximum height of 50 cm. The leaves are resistant to drought and grazing and are generally deciduous in summer. Wide open, sunny spaces with exposed rock separate the shrubs, especially in extremely arid areas near the coast. During the summer, the most exposed vegetative parts of the plants that inhabit this habitat dry out, giving the vegetation a characteristic “burnt” appearance. This landscape, typical of countries that face the sea, is a habitat of community interest. The most characteristic elements of its flora are Euphorbia acanthoclada, Genista acanthoclada, Sarcopoterium spinosum, Pistacia lentiscus, various species of sage and rockrose, herbaceous plants that are also found in garrigues, and many species of orchids. The spaces left free by the shrubs are usually populated by bulbous plants such as Gynandriris sisyrinchium, and by other herbaceous species with beautiful flowers, such as Ranunculus asiaticus.
The garrigue is a discontinuous plant formation with wide open spaces between plants; it is characterized by evergreen shrubs and subshrubs that grow to a maximum of 1 m and are often thorny and resistant to grazing. In the coastal scrub, which is located on the border between the coastal plant formations and the habitats most protected from the action of the sea, we find numerous species of the genus Helichrysum, the most common being H. italicum. It is often accompanied by Anthyllis hermanniae and many different rockroses, such as Cistus monspeliensis, C. salviifohus and C. incanus subsp. creticus, which stain the earth with their flowers that range from white to pink and yellow.
Different garrigue formations are dominated by different plants, for example Euphorbia acanthoclada, Phlomis fruticosa or Salvia triloba. Together with the stands of Daphne sericea and Lavandula stoechas, they are habitats of community interest and therefore subject to special conservation measures, as are all the coastal vegetation formations that contain associations of the aforementioned plants.
Annual and bulbous plants inhabit the open spaces of the garrigue. All these plants flower early, generally in the spring rainy season, when the temperature begins to rise above the winter average. These meadows are home to many short-lived species that nonetheless offer their colorful contribution to celebrating spring: among them the highly fragrant asphodels and many bulbous plants, such as the showy orchids of the genera Ophrys and Orchis.
Due to the particular morphology of orchid flowers, we have preferred to include brief introductions to the family and in particular to the genera Ophrys, Orchis and Serapias in the descriptions of the individual species.