NOTE about the Crop

Cork oak or Quercus suber.

Mediterranean origin, possibly Tirreno sea, Terciary (Oligoceno). Gil (1998) states that it develops between latitudes 44° and 36°, mainly in the south-west of Europe and the extreme north-west of Africa. The actual area of cork oak in Portugal represents 33% of the total cork oak area in the world 55% of the world production (Ribeiro e Tomé, 2002). No other species have been as protected by law then this one: legislation appeared in Portugal since 1209, (Gil, 1998). Some trees are now classified as "of public interest"; several of them have 6 to 7 m of diameter (BHD), one with age of at least 500 years is reported in Gil (1998). In Spain, France, Sicily, Algeria,....the areas that cork oak covers presently are only a very small part of what existed before. The first law protecting cork oak in Spain appeared during the XVIII century; the area of cork oak at this time was much bigger then in Portugal, but the devastation was more intensive.

References:

Luís Gil, 1998. Cortiça, Produção, Tecnologia e Aplicação. INETI (Instituto Nacional de Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial), Lisboa, 384 pp.

Ribeiro, F. and Tomé, M., 2002. Cork weight prediction at tree level. Forest Ecology and Management, 171 (3): 231-241.