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Samian Flora

The orientation and the relief that is created by the mountains of Samos (Kerkis with an altitude of 1444 meters and Ampelos with an altitude of 1160 meters) create a multitude of microclimates on the island. An immediate result of this is that Samos has a very rich environment with great assortment in plants that cannot be encountered in any other Aegean island.

Today and this is not an exaggeration, the island has more forested land that in the past two centuries despite of the forest fires in the past few years. This is mainly because large masses of farmland has been abandoned by the farmers and has been quickly turned into forest and also because of the great speed of the island’s reforestation. Irrefutable witness are the vast stepped landmasses on the mountains (former fields) that are now covered by forests.

During summertime when rain is rare, the northwest winds are the predominate ones on the island. They affect the climate and separate the island in three climate zones, the North one that is affected by the winds that come from the sea and is wet and cool, the south one where the wind comes from the mountains, dries-up and warms the island and the mountain zone where lower temperatures prevail along with high moisture. It is well understood that these zones don’t have clear boundaries and therefore, depending to the area’s climate, the relevant vegetation has been adjusted.

Samos has a plottage of 478,2Km2 out of which 69,5% is forest land, 22% is semi-mountainous and 8,5% is lowlands. Based on data given by the Agriculture Committee and the Samian Forest Bureau this plottage is allocate as follows:

 

Samians mainly cultivate olive-trees. There are estimated to be 1.567.000 olive trees on the island and the plottage that they occupy is up to 90.000 square Kms. 77% of the olive trees are on the South part of the island because olive trees are tenacious against drought and therefore are a unique species for such dry areas.

Second comes the cultivation of vines. They occupy 15000 square Kms and are consisted almost exclusively of the variety of white “Moshato” Samian vine. This vine has made Samos famous throughout the world. It’s cultivation is mainly restricted on the north and center part of the island (also known as “moshato zone”) and it is forbidden to cultivate “moshato” vines for commercial purposes out of this zone because Samian “Moshato” wine is appellation provenance. There are a few vineyards on the south part also.

Citrus trees are much more prosperous in lower altitudes and on arable land that is not greatly affected by the wind. There are plenty of trees along the island but systematic cultivation is mainly in the area of “Mili”, on the south part where land is arable.

Fruit-bearing trees are located throughout the island and especially on the north part and on the mountains where you can find cherries and apple-trees, but there are no systematic cultivations.

There is systematic cultivation of horticultural in the northern part and mainly in the villages around Karlovasi where arable plains exist but smaller fields also exist throughout the island. In the southern part of the island such cultivations face problems mainly because of the wind and higher temperatures. There are also a few grain and pulse fields exclusively in the southern part.

The Samian pine-forests cover 13,640 hectares or 28,5% of the island’s size. They cover the mountainous area and large portions of the north part along with smaller parts in the south. In the lowlands the “Pinus brutia” type prevails and grows as far as the shoreline but in altitudes higher than 700 meters the specie “Pinus nigra” (black pine) is the dominant one. This species is encountered mainly in central Europe and probably Samos and Peloponnese are the limits of its southern expansion. The biggest forests are located on Ampelos mountain and there are smaller ones on Kerkis mountain mainly on the east and northwest slopes. Until the beginning of the 20th century there were also extensive forests of chestnuts and oak trees but were extinguished by fires and woodcutting.

Except of the pine forests there is also the, so called, woodland that accounts for 8,870 hectares and of whom some species grow higher than 5 meters. There are big such areas in the south part, to the east in the area of Vathi and Paleokastro, to the west in the area of Kallithea and Drakei and in many areas of the northern part. This type of vegetation covers usually rocky and barren ground, with main characteristics the small, hard and usually spiny leaves covered by waxy substances, the hard bark and the deep roothold.

The main species of these ecosystems are the holly (Quercus coccifera ), the lentisk (Pistacia lendiskus), the wild olive tree (Olea oleaster), the locusts (Ceratonia siligua), the cedar (Juniperus sp.), the pines (Pinus brutia), the spanish grass (Spartium sp.), the prickly bush (Kalycotomus sp.), the bramble (Robus sp.), the woodbine ( Lonicera sp.) and many others. Higher up and where the terrain is decalcified (apart for those mentioned above and are indifferent to calcium), you can also see arbutus trees (Arbotus sp.), periwinkle (Myrtus), η “kokorevithia” (Pistacia terebinthus), ling ( Erica verticilata και E.arborea) and others.

These ecosystems, recover quickly after a fire and quickly sprout. The result is that in a very few years the terrain is recovered, but pines are destroyed and they must be either planted or wait for a long time until they recover again (many times not in full). In rocky and barren terrain usually thorny and brushwood-like bushes flourish. These are the “astouvia” (Poterium spinosum), the savory (Satureia thymbra), oreganon (Origanon sp.), “knoukla”(Cistus incanus), broom-bush (Sarcopoterium spinosum), thyme (Thimus capitatus), “Hinopodia (Genista acanthoclada), scarlet sage (Salbia sp), mountain-tea (sideritis sp.) and many others. These areas exist mainly to the south slopes of Kerkis where the soil is consisted mainly by mountain rubble. 

In torrents, areas where fountains spring or wherever the soil is moist, hygrophilous trees grow. The dominant ones in Samos are the plane (Platanus orientalis), the daphne (Laurus nobilis), and in areas as in the gully of Mitilinioi, the willow (Salix cinerea).

Bushes that grow in such terrain are the rosebay (Nerium oleander) and in great numbers the wicker (Vitex agnus-castus) and others. From the scramblers, you can see prickly bush (Rubus sanctus), supplejack (Hedera helix) and “Arkoudovatos” bush (Smilax aspera).

The one-year plants flourish in Samos, well-favored by the Samian climate. Their biological circle starts with the October rains and finishes in the end of June.
 

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