garrigue

Garrigue is a type of low, soft-leaved scrubland found on limestone soils around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast, where the climate is ameliorated. Garrigue, which is a French term, is the most common term for such shrublands, which are known as phrygana in Greece, tomillares in Spain, and batha in Israel. Juniper and stunted holm oaks are the typical trees; aromatic lime-tolerant shrubs such as lavender, rosemary, wild thyme and Artemisia are common garrigue plants. The term has also found its way into haute cuisine as in "garrigue notes", suggestive of flavours redolent with the smell of a Garrigue(Fr.) shrubland. Deforestation of the indigenous oak forest since the Late Bronze Age, for cultivation of olives, vines and grain, the introduction of sheep and goats, charcoal-making for heat and iron-working, exposed the land surface to weathering and resulted in erosion of the topsoil. The wild garrigue is a man-formed landscape.
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n. scrubland, area of land that is covered in low bushes or trees