Laurisilva on in the National Park Garajonay on La Gomera

Laurisilva on La Palma

Laurisilva is a type of humid subtropical laurel forest found on several of the Macaronesian islands of the north Atlantic, namely the Azores, Madeira Islands, and the Canary Islands. Image File history File links Gomera. ... Image File history File links Gomera. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1191 KB) Astonomy Observatory - Photo taken by Luc Viatour 2004 License : Image: Astonomy Observatory File links The following pages link to this file: San Andrés y Sauces, Santa Cruz de Tenerife User:Lviatour Metadata This file contains additional information... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1191 KB) Astonomy Observatory - Photo taken by Luc Viatour 2004 License : Image: Astonomy Observatory File links The following pages link to this file: San Andrés y Sauces, Santa Cruz de Tenerife User:Lviatour Metadata This file contains additional information... Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. ... Macaronesia Macaronesia is a modern invented collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean near Europe and North Africa belonging to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde. ... Location Motto of the autonomous region: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Portuguese: To die free rather than to be subjugated in peace) Official language Portuguese Capitals Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the autonomous government), Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court), Horta (Legislative Assembly) Other towns Praia da Vitória... Location Motto of the autonomous region: Das ilhas, as mais belas e livres (Portuguese: Of the islands, the most beautiful and free) Official language Portuguese Capital Funchal Other towns Porto Santo, Machico, Santa Cruz, Câmara de Lobos, Santana, Ribeira Brava, Caniço Area 797 km² Population  - Total (1991)  - Density... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The forests are made up of laurel-leaved evergreen hardwood trees, reaching up to 40 meters in height. Many of the species are endemic to the islands, and harbor a rich biota of understory plants, invertebrates, and birds and bats, including a number of endemic species. A Silver Fir shoot showing three successive years of retained leaves In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant which retains its leaves year-round, with each leaf persisting for more than 12 months. ... In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... Understory (or understorey) is the term for the area of a forest which grows in the shade of the overstory or canopy. ... Invertebrate is a term coined by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck to describe any animal without a spinal column. ... Orders Many - see section below. ... Suborders Megachiroptera Microchiroptera See text for families. ... In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... In biology, a species is the basic unit of biodiversity. ...

Laurisilva formerly covered much of the Azores and Madeira and parts of the western Canary Islands, but the forests have been much reduced in extent by logging, clearance for agriculture and grazing, and the invasion of exotic species. The most extensive laurisilva forests remain on Madeira, where they are found between 300 and 1300 meters altitude, and cover 221 km², or about 16% of the area of the island. In the Canary Islands, roughly 60 km² of laurisilva remain on Tenerife and over 20 km² in Garajonay National Park on La Gomera, and small areas on La Palma. In the Azores, small patches of laurisilva forest remain on the islands of Pico, Terceira, and São Miguel. Sweet clover (Melilotus sp. ... Flag of Tenerife Tenerife (English also Teneriffe), a Spanish island, is the largest of the seven Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. ... Garajonay National Park (Parque nacional de Garajonay) is located in the center and north of the island of La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands. ... Los Organos, La Gomera. ... NASA image of La Palma from space La Palma, a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off Africa. ... Pico (Ilha do Pico) is an island of the Azores noted for its eponymous volcano, its peak, the highest mountain of Portugal. ... Map of Terceira Island, Azores. ... São Miguel on a NASA satellite photo, with North to the top. ...

The Madeira laurisilva forests were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Predominant lauraceous trees include Til (Ocotea foetens), Loureiro (Laurus novocanariensis), Vinhático (Persea indica), and Barbosano (Apollonias barbujana); other important trees include Aderno (Heberdenia excelsa), Pau Branco (Picconia excelsa), the Mocanos (Visnea mocanera and Pittosporum coriaceum), and Sanguinho (Rhamnus glandulosa), and the small trees or large shrubs Folhado (Clethra arborea) and Perado (Ilex perado). The forests support a diverse understory of ferns and herbaceous plants, including the Leitugas (Sonchus spp.), geraniums (Geranium maderense, G. palmatum and G. rubescens), the Estreleiras (Argyranthemum spp.) and the endemic orchid Goodyera macrophylla. UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... Site #86: Memphis and its Necropolis, including the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Genera Many; see text The Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises a group of flowering plants included in the order Laurales. ... species 200+; see text Ocotea is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. ... Species Franco Azores Laurel L. Bay Laurel Laurus is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. ... Species Many, including: - Avocado - Redbay - Viñátigo - Lingue - Swampbay Persea is a genus of about 150 species of evergreen trees belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. ... species For other uses of Apollonias, see Apollonias (disambiguation) Apollonias is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. ... Species See text The Buckthorns Rhamnus are a genus (or two genera, if Frangula is treated as distinct) of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall (rarely to 15 m), in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. ... Species Between 30-70; see text. ... This article is about the plant type. ... Geranium can be: The genus Geranium of flowering plants, usually called the cranesbills or (somewhat redundantly) hardy geraniums. Members of the related genus Pelargonium, which are commonly called geraniums by gardeners and in the horticultural trade. ... Orchid re-directs here; for alternate uses see Orchid (disambiguation) Genera Over 800 See List of Orchidaceae genera. ...

The laurisilva forests of Macaronesia are relicts of a vegetation type which originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin when the climate of the region was more humid. With the drying of the Mediterranean Basin during the Pliocene, the laurel forests gradually retreated, replaced by more drought-tolerant sclerophyll plant communities. Most of the last remaining laurisilva forests around the Mediterranean are believed to have disappeared approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene, when the Mediterranean basin became warmer and drier, although some remnants of the laurel forest flora still persist in the mountains of southern Spain and northern Morocco, and two constituent species (Laurus nobilis and Ilex aquifolium) remain widespread. The location of the Macaronesian Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean moderated these climactic fluctuations, and maintained the relatively humid and mild climate which has allowed these forests to persist to the present day. The term relict is used to refer to surviving remnants of natural phenomena. ... The Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. ... The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts) is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5. ... Arid, largely treeless areas aside, most Australian bushland is sclerophyll forest. ... The Pleistocene epoch (pronounced like ply-stow-seen) is part of the geologic timescale. ... Binomial name Laurus nobilis L. The Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis, Lauraceae), also known as True Laurel, Sweet Bay, Grecian Laurel, or just Laurel, is an evergreen tree or large shrub reaching 10–18 m tall, native to the Mediterranean region. ... Binomial name Ilex aquifolium L. The European Holly Ilex aquifolium is a holly native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. ...