Planning a holiday abroad?

Some of the wildflowers which grow near the cottage
Image courtesy of H. Carapiet

If you are thinking of booking a holiday in the sun this year, and would like to combine it with a little botany, here's a suggestion for you: a cottage to let in southern Spain in an area which the owner assures us is "very interesting from the point of view of botany". 

The cottage is in Polopos "in the Sierra Contraviesa of Andalucia, which is constituted mainly of metamorphic rocks (schists, micaschists and quartz) and also of sedimentary rocks. So most of the soil is siliceous and good for growing vines. The slopes are very steep, often 45 degrees or more, leading to a lot of erosion leaving the soil quite bare. The xerophytic plants are abundant: Genista umbellata, Thymus spp., Cistus spp., Spartium junceum, Stipa tenacissima, etc. Very few woods are left but in Haza de Lino above Polopos there survives the highest cork oak forest in Europe and the most ancient in the Iberian Peninsula. In the ravines are wetlands with a rich flora. It is of interest to note that only 10 km down from Polopos the coast has a Mediterraneo-subtropical climate with its appropriate flora".

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact owner Harry Carapiet or you can see some details about the cottage here and there will be an advert in the September issue of BSBI News. Sadly Harry just missed the deadline for the April issue which has now been published and should reach all our members in the next few days. If you would like to place an advert in BSBI News, scroll down column 2 of the Publications page to download a pdf giving rates and deadlines.