Most of Barcelona, as is typical of a Mediterranean city, is urbanised. Nevertheless, here and there are patches of vegetation whose function is to make the city more beautiful and inhabitable; to fix carbon dioxide; to produce oxygen; and to provide shade during hot weather. This shortage of free land negatively affects the growth of plant species and forces them to adapt to extreme conditions resulting from the hardness of the substrate and the lack of water their roots can access.
The extreme conditions resulting from the hardness
of the substrate and the lack of water limits the normal
growth of most plants. This means that many species
can only grow in sites with sufficient levels of humidity
Another obstacle for plant colonisation in the city is the vertical structure of the buildings and, evidently, the practical absence of soil in which plants can lay their roots. Consequently and logically, plant cover is extremely limited. Only a few species of herbaceous plants, mosses, and, above all, lichens can survive in these extreme conditions.
Lichen of the genus Xanthoria incrusted in a roof tile
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