Wild flowers in urban spaces

Abstract

Research into wild flowers with a view to their use in urban spaces has not been undertaken in Portugal, considering their importance in ecological design. The Mediterranean climate involves the seasonally of air temperature and precipitation, which leads to a hot drought period in summer and wet period in winter. The reintroduction of native plants reduces the cost of establishing and maintaining as the sustainability green spaces. So, the aim of this work focuses on the behaviour of the native meadow in a young olive orchard, evaluating the floristic composition and its variation along the study. Three years of field experiment were performed comprising two treatments: the mobilized, in which the management of the plants was controlled through the mobilization, and the native meadowland covering until the beginning of the dry period. After that, the plants were cut off by a rotary mower. The observation of the development of the land covering was made with the help of floristical survey during the spring. The results observed in green cover, show a tendency to the increase of monocotyledonae in relation to dicotyledons.