2017Euromed - Trees of the Mediterranean - First Day Cover

Despite Portugal not directly bordering the Mediterranean Sea, the country is dominated by the temperate Mediterranean climate, typically characterised by hot, dry summers and cool, damp winters. This climatic diversity, with areas of greater or lesser Atlantic or continental in uence, has a visible e ect on vegetation cover. The scarcity of rain in summer and the relatively mild and dry climate encourages the growth of hardy, small-leaved trees such as the cork oak (Quercus suber). This unique oak, which is able to replace its bark – cork – following its extraction every nine years, a practice which would kill any other tree, occurs naturally in almost every part of Portugal. Known by various names in Portuguese, the cork oak can grow up to twenty metres high and live for more than 150 years, creating wild woods (sobreirais) and dense forests which are very useful for silvopasture (montados), both of which are extremely important for nature conservation.