The natural environment of Cupressus sempervirens in Greece as a basis for its use in the Mediterranean region

This paper studies the natural stands of Cupressus sempervirens L. in Greece. C. sempervirens stands are located on the islands of Crete, Samos, Rhodes, Kos, Symi, and Milos, while populations on the islands of Chios and Kalymnos were discovered recently. Stands in the Peloponnese and in the Ionian Islands are considered introduced and naturalized. Data on natural populations show that C. sempervirens is indifferent to physiographic factors, substrate material, and physicochemical soil properties. The species grows on sites ranging from the semiarid bioclimatic zone with warm winters, to the wet zone with cold and fairly harsh winters. According to the xerothermic index in the taxon's natural distribution area, all Mediterranean bioclimate characters may appear, from intense thermo-Mediterranean to weak meso-Mediterranean. Cypress participates in all the vegetation zones from the thermo-Mediterranean to mountainous Mediterranean and a cluster analysis (TWINSPAN) of sixty-two cypress releves led to the recognition of six woodland types defined by species composition, and assigned to three alliances: Oleo-Ceratonion, Quercion ilicis, and Acero-Cupression. This great plasticity of the species with regard to natural environmental factors, together with its relative resistance to fire, renders cypress one of the most valuable forest species for a large part of the Mediterranean region. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.