These are perennial plants with a woody base but they do not have a trunk nor can they attain the height of a tree. In natural surroundings they will grow alongside trees within woodland or take over where there are no trees. They create an important dense, low scrub habitat for wildlife.

There are two main terms which describe areas of scrub land in the Mediterranean region;

“maquis” is an area of dense growth or thicket, chiefly comprised of evergreen shrubs and small trees, a Spanish word for this is “matorral”.

“garrigue” is a more open and lower combination of dwarf shrubs with grasses and herbs.

These forms of growth may appear due to poor soils on exposed rocky slopes with summer droughts and cold winter temperatures where such a combination would not support tree growth. Alternatively it may be land cleared by human hand to harvest the trees and promote grazing, or natural fires which have removed the trees and the area is in a state of regeneration.

If people or fire has cleared the land it will be the shrubs and grasses that regenerate first and therefore offer protection to trees which may reestablish if not overgrazed by domestic or wild animals.

Many of the shrubs are evergreen with tough leaves to help cope with the demands of summer droughts. Another way to escape this problematic time is to drop the leaves in summer and grow fresh in autumn. This is an effective form of summer dormancy.