Dear All, Here is my response to the points and questions raised by some of you. The wetland we were walking was only partly wet and partly a belt of coastal dunes and partly slightly elevated areas which used to be fertile agricultural land which is not cultivated any more. But remnants in the form of antique windmill ruins and old almond, fig and carob trees document human activity. This area is placed in between two "ribeiras“, seasonal streams, which both make a rivermouth into the Atlantic. One of the streams forms a lagoon behind the dunes, the other forms mudbanks. Some of the mudbanks used to be flat salines where salt used to be produced in the past, but not any more. During heavy rain there are connections between the two streams. As this part of Europe has been populated since prehistoric times the landscape is never without human traces. But being left to its own these areas are now extremely valuable habitats and at the same time extremely threatened. Being placed in a beautiful setting on the coast with dunes (no moving sand, though. The dunes themselves carry a rich and very specialized flora) potent investors are all too eager to „develop“ these habitats. The guided walk was part of a well organized initiative to transform the area into a nature reserve before it is too late. The dominant plant on the slightly higher, non saline sand behind the line of dunes is Retama monosperma. The walk was called the „snow-walk“ which I found odd at first but we were explained that it referred to the snow like appearance when the Retama is in flower. Unfortunately it was still in bud…… a reason to go back in two weeks time. There is no fence around the Mandragora……. On the contrary, it is so close to a path that some specimen risk to be trampled on….. I also had the idea to grow some plants from seed and re-introduce them later, I have to think about it…… but I am sure that would not be legal….. We only visited one of the rivermouths. As we are lacking rain at the moment there was not much water in the stream. The rivermouth itself was shut off from the sea by a barrier of fresh sand washed there by the waves so there was a small lake of stagnant water behind the barrier. It looked as if this natural barrier had been reduced in height by bulldozers so without human influence the mudbanks further inland would have been much wetter. But adjacent to the wetland there is a fantastic looking concrete landscape of a brand new tourism complex…….. they may not like a high water table…… There are two geological particularities: one is a former island now part of the land due to heavy sedimentation. The rock of the former island is of biological lime stone which is a mere conglomerate of fossils and carries a special limestone flora. The other specialty is a deposit of marine sediment so very far inland that is is proof of the devastating tsunami which took place not only in Lisbon but all along the Portuguese coast. Portugal is considered a Mediterranean country but in fact as no access to the Mediterranean Sea at all, the entire coastline is Atlantic. This tsunami was the consequence of the earthquake in 1755 which destroyed the entire country. Bye for now Uli _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>