Paleobotanical evidences of the Tertiary history and origin of the Mediterranean sclerophyll dendroflora

Abstract

The evolution of important woody plant groups, ancestral to the modern Mediterranean dendroflora, is surveyed. Altogether, the history and phytogeography of 86 fossil species or species-groups is considered. The major part of the Paleomediterranean woody plants appears in Miocene mixed mesophyllous and mesoxerophyllous, evergreen and deciduous forests. The initial formation of basic Mediterranean sclerophyllous woody vegetation types is referred to periods from the Late Sarmatian to the Late Pontian, in geographic areas between 37° and 45° N latitude.