the mata albergaria well preserved oak forest within peneda ger national park northern portugal

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The Mata da Albergaria, a well-preserved oak forest within Peneda-GerÃÂªs national park, northern Portugal

The Peneda-GerÃÂªs National Park Portuguese: Parque Nacional da Peneda-GerÃÂªs, also known simply as GerÃÂªs, is the only national park in Portugal. It is located in the Norte region, in the northwest of Portugal, specifically in the districts of Viana do Castelo, Braga, and Vila Real. The Mata de Albergaria is one of the most important forests of the National Park of the Peneda GerÃÂªs PNPG. It also holds a section of the Via Romana - Geira - with the ruins of its bridges and a significant set of milestones. The floristic diversity includes 823 vascular taxa that occur in 128 types of natural vegetation. The oak forests are common throughout the park. These forested are dominated by an alliance between the Pyrenean Quercus pyrenaica and English Quercus robur oaks. Other species found are cork oak Quercus suber, butcher`s broom Ruscus aculeatus, maple Acer pseudoplatanus and Portuguese laurel Prunus lusitanica, These oaks have been, over the course of human settlement, the object of intense use, resulting in a general degradation of the spaces into nothing more than shrubbery.