There is a place in Europe where time has stopped forever, evoking a magical air of the past, a place in which trees are dressed in their finery and rain caress instead of falling.
The Laurisilva is without doubt the most unique environment of the Iberian Peninsula. This subtropical forest, heat and humidity lover, is a reminder of those that once flourished across the Continent when, during the Tertiary Era, tropical climate dominated the Mediterranean Basin.
Although The Laurisilva is especially generous in the Macaronesian archipelagos of Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde and Canary Islands (where the climate has fluctuated littel since then), we can find, even today, small representations in the Oceanic and Mediterranean environment of the continent, sheltering in microenvironments with favorable climate. The coastal mountains of Algeciras, Monchique or Sintra are hidden corners where subtropical vegetation defies summer drought and originally mixes with a number of Mediterranean taxa.
As in other rainforests, plants of The Laurisilva must avoid excess of moisture, which here comes to be a problem. For this reason, they adopted a common strategy, developing leaves that repel water on its surface. The called lauroid leaves (referring to the laurel leaves design) are kept dry despite the humidity, thanks to the thick layer of wax and their apical mucro favoring dropping, and allow therefore perspiration and respiration of the plant. To this ingenious strategy we have to add others such as epiphytism, common among cryptogams, or lianoid growth. Besides, under the special conditions of the lauroid canopy of Persea sp., Laurus sp., Prunus sp. or Myrica sp., several species of plants, native to tropical rainforests, can also thrive.
The Laurisilva is one of the most interesting ecosystems in Europe but also one of the most threatened by the current climate change. This plant kingdom deserves to retain its magic, beyond the passing of time and alien to human greed.
