The Mediterranean makia (flora type of the area).
Scents of an herb garden and, despite the heat, the place around us is full of life. Bees fly from one flower to another to collect pollen. The grasshoppers jump and butterflies fly around our heads. We are in a makia(flora type of the area) in Alonissos. For many areas of the Mediterranean, the makia is now the standard form of vegetation, which also applies to parts of Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos and the deserted island. Surely there was a primary Makia (possibly in coastal parts), but most of the land makias we see today is secondary heaths (that have resulted in degeneration of forests).
In makia what you can see today are evergreen oaks, once part of forests, mainly gases (Quercus ilex) in the western Mediterranean and yew (Quercus coccifera) on the east. Now they grow up to a maximum size of a bush and never to a tree’s size. In most cases the vegetation of makia has been developed over centuries. As a result of human intervention: land reclamation, fire and grazing the forest have been turned into heaths.
Because of the goats that eat almost everything, the makia can not develop its integrated form, which is a forest of evergreen oaks. Apart from grazing, there are other reasons contributing to this problem. Trees and shrubs of makia or more precisely the forest that has degenerated into makia except timber for firewood, construction or woodwork, yet provide resins, fibrous tissues for fabric, tannins, edible and aromatic herbs and all kinds of natural products.
On the Adriatic coast of former Yugoslavia, where after the Second World War grazing have been forbidden - can now be seen how the forest is slowly regenerating again, after centuries of overexploitation. This is a process that takes time. As estimated by botanist Dimitrios Fitos and Georgia Kamari, the natural reforestation of the island Gioura would take a hundred years, on condition that they would stop any human intervention and the limitation of grazing.
But in some areas of Alonissos and Skantzoura, a few years after the restriction of the grazing makia began to recover to its wild form. It certainly didn’t create the original forests, but formed a landscape with a lot of vegetation, closer to what nature created when left undisturbed.
People can find different scrubs in a "tall" Makia (approximately 3 to 5 meters in height) and in a "short" Makia (between 1.5 and 3 meters height). The name Makia also comes from the name spoken at Corsica <ladanias>. As far makia characterized heaths with similar composition, but they dont necessarily contain <ladanies>. The makia is often very dense.
A lot of thorn bushes, such as little thorny broom (Calicotome villosa) and <ailaki> or <arkoudovatos> (Smilax aspera) are forming an impenetrable local thorn grid.
Representative plants of "tall" makias other than ladanies, aspalathous and yew, is thamnokyparisso , the koutsoupia (Cercis siliquastrum), the agriokoumaria (Arbutus andrachne), the laurel (Laurus nobilis), the kitrinoxylo (Rhamnus alaternus) the locust tree (Ceratonia siliqua), the big <fillyki> (Phillyrea latifolia), the wild olive (Olea europaea oleaster) and heather (Erica arborea).
Factors such as location, quality of soil, weather conditions, grazing or other human activities can affect the composition of makia’s favoring more or less some of these species.
A separate plantof makia is the schinos (Pistacia lentiscus). A variety of tree that produces gum, this fragrant, green and colorless substance resinoids characteristic flavor, which make chewing gum, sweets etc. aromatizoun A separate plant makias of the schinos (Pistacia lentiscus). A variety of tree that produces gum, this fragrant, green and colorless substance resinoids characteristic flavor, which make chewing gum, giving flavor to sweets etc.
The myrtle (Myrtus communis), this evergreen shrub that in the summer gets filled with white flowers, had symbolic importance in ancient times and symbolized love that surpasses death. Even today in some places, people decorate the brides with myrtle branches.
Many trees and shrubs of "tall" makia meet with "short" makia’s in a lower form. Sometimes this is due to kids who eat the peaks and not leave the plants to grow. Often, the "low" makia the ladanies the aspalathoi the heathers and asfakes (Phlomis fruticosa) is more often than in "high" makia.
Apart from the trees and the shrubs that form Makia there is a number of other smaller plants that grow in its territory. Thus, in the spring, the Makia changes to a form that has dozens of different wildflowers which are emerging among the bushes.
In brushwood (phryganas).
When the soil gets stony, rocky and arid, the Makia gives its position to the brushwood. These are areas where the vegetation consists mainly of low shrubs (brushwood) and one or many bulbous plants. As in Makia so brushwood and vegetation is secondary, which has been developed after years of uncontrolled exploitation of forests and heaths from humans.
The brushwood garings resemble the western Mediterranean ones, but with characteristic flora of the eastern Mediterranean. Many plants found in Makia can also be found in brushwood, such as ladanum, the Schinias, the yew and the cypress bushes but they cannot develop normally and reach only low bushes in size.
In brushwood people think that they are in a a vast sweet-smelling herb garden. The air is full of intoxicating aromas emerging from thyme (Thymus spec.), the lavender (Lavandula spec.), Rosemary (Rosmarinus spec.). The ladanums have their own scent and sticky substances that secrete their leaves to protect themselves from drought.
Ladanum species that are encountered in Makia and brushwood are the Cretan ladanum (Cistus creticus) and salvia cistus (Cistus salviifolius). Typical representatives of the bulbous plants are yellow daffodil (Asphodeline lutea) and the red squill (Urginea maritima). But the thorn bushes are dominating the brushwood.
Those bushes they have an effective physical protection: Being full of thorns and sharp branches makes them not attractive food for animals. The most frequently occurring plants here are the Astivi (Sarcopoterium spinosum), the implicit (Genista acanthoclada), the spurge (Euphorbia acanthothamnus) and <alogothymaro> (Antyllis hermanniae), which can be developed in the form of a bush from half to one meter high.
Some other plants in brushwood is a kind of thyme (Coridothymus capitatus), the <therokalo> (Thymelaea tartonraira), the <stoureki> (Globularia alypum) and hypericums (Hypericum empetrifolium).
Among the shrubs that grow in the spring many orchidaceous herbs like the orchis (Orchis quadripunctata) or Aceras anthropophorum, and representatives of the genus brow like Ophrys mammosa, Ophrys kotschyi and Ophrys flavomarginata. Characteristics of the eastern Mediterranean species, such as Ophrys ferrum-equinum and Ophrys aesculapii are prevailing in most brushwood.
Nature knows no borders and so there are no clear boundaries between woodland areas, heaths and brushwoods. Instead, depending on the circumstances of each site, intermediate and transitional forms develop, which also applies to the succession of brushwood on the so-called "coastal steppe".
" The coastal steppe "
When the ground is becoming even poorer, rocks come out of the ground and the brushwood gives over to another type of flora that grows on rocky slopes. Such a characteristic flora is growing in the coast. In these "zones of extreme conditions," only the real aces of survival may survive.
Many plants from those found in Makia and brushwood, have adapted to survive in these difficult circumstances. An example is the <skillokrommyda>, with bulbs that reach an average of 15 cm in length, is a living water tank. And the different daffodil also develop thick bulbs which, when flowering, they transform these bare areas in an oasis of colorful flowers.
In Sporades you may encounter prickly pears (Opuntia ficus-indica). This strange cacti listed plant, which reaches four meters high, is from the tropical zone of America and it is said that Columbus brought it to Europe . Today we can see it in many parts of the Mediterranean Sea, where conditions favored it.
Bibliography
Northern Sporades Islands - Marine National Park (Gerald Hau-Claus Peter Hutter)
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