MAIN TRAIL - Planalto Castro Laboreiro NAME OF INTEREST - Turfed areas and broom plantation CONCEPT - Natural Heritage This turfed area is constituted mostly by large gramineae, such as Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. Baeticum (tall oat-grass) or the giant feather grass (Stipa gigantea). Among the features of this kind of habitat can be included the retention of and formation of new soil and a refuge for biodiversity, as with the mountain daisy (Phalacrocarpon oppositifolium subsp. oppositifolium) and other endemic/ indigenous and/ or rare species. The degeneration of this habitat can be seen through the extent of invading species and the increasing covering of arboreous and bush vegetation. Here one can also point out a broom plantation (Cytisus scoparius). Broom is mainly used by local inhabitants as a raw material (e.g. to make traditional brooms) and as food for the cattle. One should notice that the word scoparius, from Latin, means in the shape of a broom or used to make brooms. («) BACK TO TRAILS