Garrigue or garigue ( ), also known as phrygana ( , neuter gender plural),
It is found on limestone soils in southern France and around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast where the moderated Mediterranean climate provides annual summer drought. It is an anthropogenic degradation and succession form of former evergreen oak forests that existed until around 2500 years BCE.[
][ Garrigue, une histoire qui ne manque pas de piquant, Ecolodoc no. 7 - Éditions Écologistes de l’Euzière, avril 2007 ]
The term has also found its way into haute cuisine, suggestive of the resinous flavours of a garrigue shrubland.[ Bienvenue sur le site officiel de l'office de tourisme de la région de Sault ]
Habitat and vegetation
UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre described garrigue as "discontinuous bushy associations of the Mediterranean
calcareous , which have relatively
. It is often composed of
kermes oak,
lavender,
thyme, and white
cistus. There may be a few isolated trees."
[ UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, "European Forests and Protected Areas: Gap Analysis", 2000 (pdf file)][Renault, J.-M. (2000): La Garrigue - grandeur nature. - Barcelona: Les créations du Pélican.][Hubert Delobette, Alice Dorques, Trésors retrouvés de la garrigue, Le Papillon Rouge Éditeur, 2003 ]
Garrigue is discontinuous with widely spaced bush associations with open spaces, and is often extensive. It is associated with limestone and base rich soils, and calcium associated plants.
Aside from dense thickets of kermes oak that punctuate the garrigue landscape, juniper and stunted Quercus ilex and holm oaks are the typical trees; aromatic lime-tolerant shrubs such as lavender, sage, rosemary, wild thyme and Artemisia are common garrigue plants.
Allelopathy
The aromatic oils and soluble
of such herbs leached into garrigue soils from
leaf litter have been connected with plant
allelopathy, which asserts the dominance of a plant over its neighbors, especially annuals, and contributes to the characteristic open spacing and restricted
flora in a garrigue.
[John D. Thompson, Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean (2005:148ff).] The fines (charred wood and smoke residues, or
charcoal dust) of periodic brush fires also have had an effect on the patterning and composition of the garrigues. Clear summer skies and intense
solar radiation have induced the evolution of protective physiologies: the familiar glaucous, grayish-green of garrigue landscapes is produced by the protective white hairs and light-diffusing, pebbled surfaces of many leaves typical of garrigue plants.
Similar ecoregions
Garrigue is a common general word for the shrubland
habitat in southern France along with
Maquis shrubland, which are known elsewhere in the Mediterranean region as
matorral and
tomillar in Spain,
macchia in Italy,
phrygana in Greece,
garig in Croatia, and
batha in Palestine or
horesh in
Israel.
In California a similar Mediterranean climate ecoregion is named chaparral; in Chile it is named the Chilean Matorral; in South Africa it is named fynbos; and in Australia it is named mallee. All are in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome.
Maquis
Both garrigue and maquis are associated with the Mediterranean climate within the Mediterranean region. However, the distinction is not clear and term use is inconsistent.
Maquis shrubland is broadly similar to garrigue, but the vegetation is denser, being composed of numerous closely spaced shrubs. Maquis is associated with siliceous (acid) soils, unlike the relatively alkaline calcareous soils of the garrigue. Its plant communities are often suites associated with holm oak. Calcifuges such as Erica and Calluna are present in the maquis ecoregion.
Conservation
Deforestation of the indigenous oak forest since the Late Bronze Age, for cultivation of
,
viticulture and grain, the introduction of sheep and especially goats and charcoal-making for heat and iron-working, exposed the land surface to weathering and resulted in
erosion of the topsoil.
[Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean in the Age of Philip II] The wild garrigue, then, is a man-formed landscape. The intensity of grazing pressure has had a direct response in the
ecotope, reflected today in the decline of goat-pasturing.
[Z. Henkin et al., "Suitability of Mediterranean oak woodland for beef herd husbandry" Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 109.3/4, (September 2005:255-261).]
Origin of the word
First cited in
French language in 1546,
garrigue is borrowed from Provençal
garriga, equivalent to
Old French jarrie. The term is most likely related to
Gascon dialect carroc "rock" and to
Swiss German Karren, a kind of
sedimentary rock. These words could derive from a supposed source such as
*carra "rock," perhaps a remnant of a pre-Roman language and possibly akin to
Basque language *karr-,
harri "rock."
[Bloch, Oscar, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, p. 275.] Gaulish and then
Latin appear to have borrowed
*carra, which evolved into its modern descendants in Romance languages.
[Bloch, Oscar: "Garrigue," page 270, Dictionnaire Etymologique, Paris, 1950]
Uses
Cultivation
The dense, thrifty growth of garrigue flora has recommended many of its shrubs and
Subshrub for uses as
in traditional and
xeriscape. Many shrubs and flowering perennials of the garrigue are mainstays of the English "mixed border" of herbaceous and
found in
, and around the world, though often grown under cooler, moister conditions.
Some have become invasive species in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome's other ecoregions beyond the Mediterranean Basin on other continents, including the California chaparral and woodlands.
Viticulture
Grapes that are grown in the
garrigues region of France are said to produce
French wine with a "barnyard" or "earthy" tone, or "the herbal scent of lavender that fills the hills of Provence in the summer time."
Some wines bottled in
Southern France contain the word
garrigues as part of their
appellation or
wine label name.
[Stéphane Batigne, Arnavielle, une famille des garrigues, Mille et une vies, 2008 ]
See also
External links
