Cave di Maiano

An iconic component of many a Mediterranean landscape are the tall narrow trees that point towards the sky. On our hike today I decided to get a closer at several of them along the trail: they are conifers, they are evergreen, and the leaves are quite similar to the leaves of Rocky Mountain juniper that is native to my home in southern Colorado. The two trees are related; they are both members of the Cypress (Cupressaceae) Family of plants. But they belong to different genera. RM Juniper is a species of the genus Juniperus, while the Mediterranean Cypress (sometimes called Italian Cypress) is a member of the genus Cupressus. It’s fun finding species of plants or animals in new places that are similar, and often play similar ecological roles, to familiar species in familiar natural communities.

Oh, the Italian cookies and the blueberry cobbler? Just ignore them. I included this photo for the blurry Mediterranean Cypress trees in the background, to illustrate how they are so common here, even visible from our SOBE’s balcony. Yes, the Italian cookies are common here too!Read more