These laurels are hardy Oct 19, 2021

These laurels are hardy

Go back 15 million years and you"d find most of Southern Europe looking like this fantasy forest: thick, scrubby underbrush canopied by wizened laurel trees. An epoch or two of human agricultural advances cleared those ancient woods, but patches persist on a few temperate Atlantic islands—especially here on Madeira, a Portuguese-held island off northwest Africa.

© Val Thoermer/Alamy

palette

Today in History

Oct 19, 2018Portland celebrates its bounty
Oct 19, 2020A cliff-hanging complex of temples
Oct 19, 2022Wartburg Castle overlooking Thuringian Forest in Germany
Oct 19, 2023Mekong River Delta, Long An, Vietnam
Oct 19, 2024International Archaeology Day

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 11, 2024Celtic Colours International Festival, Canada
Mar 24, 2024Silvereyes in South Korea
Mar 16, 2019Quilts as high art
Jan 8, 2023Breckenridge, Colorado
Apr 8, 2021I m here! Take a look at me!
Oct 29, 2020Let s get lost
Apr 18, 2022Square Tower House in Mesa Verde National Park
Nov 11, 2021Veterans Day
May 20, 2022World Bee Day
Jan 8, 2019A stunning national park in winter white
May 20, 2020It s World Bee Day
Nov 3, 2019It s time to fall back
Mar 24, 2022Red squirrel
Mar 8, 2022International Women s Day
Nov 26, 2018A little bit of Wonderland in New York City
Dec 4, 2019Protecting endangered giants
Aug 19, 2021Happy World Photography Day!
Jan 29, 2024Golling Waterfall, Salzburg, Austria
Apr 29, 2018National Park Week: Olympic National Park, Washington
May 7, 2022Astronomy Day
Sep 25, 2024Sequoia National Parks 134th anniversary
Oct 16, 2018Hey, who’s in charge here?
Nov 27, 2024Tombeau du Géant in Bouillon, Belgium
Oct 31, 2018Shhh, the movie is about to start
Aug 30, 2023International Whale Shark Day
Aug 27, 2024Young black caiman, Tambopata National Reserve, Peru
Mar 29, 2022Northern coast of Colombia
Jan 19, 2020Ready. Set. Snow.
Aug 27, 2020Rocks on the move
Sep 22, 2020Happy Hobbit Day