Cork Oak Pastures

Cork Oak Pastures is an original illustration set in Southwestern Iberia. It lies in mid-latitudes, where the climate is mediterranean — hot dry summers, wet winters.

A broad evergreen crown spreads above a deeply fissured trunk carrying a clean harvested band where the bark has been stripped. Widely spaced trees form open savanna woodland over dry golden pasture, with scattered livestock grazing in the shade.

Why can cork be stripped without killing the tree?

Cork is bark thick enough to be cut away without killing the tree, and it regrows — an adaptation to fire that turned into an agricultural product. The wide spacing is deliberate management: enough light for pasture beneath, enough canopy for shade. Evergreen leaves with dry gold grass beneath describe a climate where the rain and the growing season do not coincide.

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