Italian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests

The Italian sclerophyllous and deciduous forests ecoregion, part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, is in Italy. The ecoregion covers most of the Italian Peninsula and includes both evergreen and deciduous forests. The ecoregion extends from the southern Po Basin in northern Italy to the southern Apennine Mountains of Basilicata and Calabria. It covers the lowlands of central Italy, including the valleys of the Arno and Tiber rivers, the Tyrrhenian Sea (western) coast of central Italy and Liguria, extending into southeastern France, and central Italy's Adriatic coast, as well as the middle elevations of the Apennines. The Apennines' higher-elevation montane forests are considered separate ecoregions – the Apennine deciduous montane forests in central Italy and the South Apennine mixed montane forests in southern Italy. The coastal lowlands and foothills of Campania, Calabria, and Apulia in southern Italy are part of the Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests ecoregion. Rock types are limestone, dolomite, marl, schist-marl, and sandstone. Cities in the ecoregion include Rome, Florence, Genoa, and Nice. The forests vary in species composition with elevation and soils. Lower elevation forests are dominated by sclerophyllous evergreen oaks, including holm oak Quercus ilex, often on limestone-derived soils, and cork oak Quercus suber, often on soils derived from volcanic rocks. They are accompanied by deciduous trees and conifers such as: Quercus pubescens, Fraxinus ornus, Ostrya carpinifolia, Celtis australis, Acer monspessulanum, Carpinus orientalis, Pinus pinaster, Pinus pinea, Pinus halepensis and Crataegus monogyna. At middle elevations, forests are predominantly deciduous oaks, including Quercus cerris, Quercus pubescens, and Quercus frainetto, with sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) and Ostrya carpinifolia.