The Mediterranean Summer festival at Kew ran during the summer of
2007. The Mediterranean - Climate and Habitats
Australia
Gum tree (Eucalyptus)
Two regions of Australia have a Mediterranean climate: the southern
part of South Australia and southwest part of Western Australia. Western Australia is 1,021,478 square miles in area, but
only ten percent of the state is moist enough to have a Mediterranean
climate. Plenty of winter rain falls in the south west of the state
with heavy storms and strong sea breezes. However, this decreases
towards Perth while the temperature also become warmer. Perth often
has heat-waves accompanied by hot winds from the continent interior.
The sclerophyll scrub habitat in Australia is known as kwongan, which is similar
to fynbos and has many unique species. It is found mainly along the coast between
Perth and Shark Bay. Other habitat types include mallee and woodland which have
many species of Eucalyptus and Acacia. Other commonly found
genera include myrtle species, Grevillea, Banksia and Hakea, as
well as the bottle-brushes, tea trees (Leptospermum) and paperbarks
(Melaleuca). Magnificent Karri forests (dominated by Eucalyptus
diversicolor) are found in only a small part of the southwest of Western
Australia where the rainfall is at its highest.