If in that ancestral past it was distributed throughout the south of Europe and the north of Africa, after climate changes determined by the formation of the Mediterranean, the Laurissilva forest ended up finding in island regions its last refuge.
Currently, it occupies an area of around 15.000 hectares in Madeira, which corresponds to 20% of the island, with greater expression in the high areas of the north.
This subtropical rainforest is composed mainly of species endemic to Macaronesia.
It is a vast ecosystem that shelters a diversified fauna and flora, where the trees, many of which are centuries-old, of the Lauraceae family (to which the Laurissilva forest owes its name) stand out.