Plants

Tamujo thickets

Characteristics of tamujo thickets

• Communities made up of dense, thorny, deciduous scrub in which the tamujo Flueggea tinctoria (=Securinega tinctoria) dominates as a single species.
• They are heat-loving, shed their leaves in winter and turn a reddish colour that marks the line of the channel perfectly.
• The rivers and streams of Cabañeros where these communities occur have little slope in their middle and lower stretches, since they do not rise above 800 metres. In addition, the bed tends to be full of rolled quartzite pebbles, which make the channel unstable and braided.

Habitat and distribution of tamujo thickets

• They occupy much of the channels and banks of seasonal rivers and streams in the Montes de Toledo, with a marked summer drought and plenty of stones.
• Present in the Guadiana basin and a few, but only a few, in the Tagus basin.
• In Cabañeros, notable examples of tamujo thickets stand out on the raña, specifically on the Arroyo de los Pescados; on the Las Navas river, in Retuerta del Bullaque; and on streams of Los Cortijos.

Leaf types

• Alternate, oval leaves of a dark green colour. In summer they take on a reddish violet colour.

Shrub formations: scrub and shrublands

• Rockrose thickets
• Heathlands
• Broom and retama thickets
• Strawberry-tree thickets
• Willow thickets
• Mastic and kermes oak thickets
• Tamujo thickets