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Peñagolosa Natural Park

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The area is made up of a huge mountain massif located in the interior of Castellón, in the regions of l’Alcalaten (Xodos) and l’Alt Maestrat (Vistabella del Maestrat)
The special climatic and geological characteristics make it one of the mountainous areas of the Valencian Community with the greatest biodiversity and floristic importance.More than 1000 species of vascular plants are known, many of them exclusive to the Valencian territory.
It has a Mediterranean climate that is cooler and more humid in the higher areas. Winter is usually the driest season, as in summer the frequent storms mean that there is practically no drought, keeping the soil moist all year round. In the lowlands, summers and winters are dry, with rainy autumns and less rainy springs. The average annual rainfall in Vistabella del Maestrazgo is over 700 mm.
Its vegetation landscape is determined on the one hand by the altitudinal gradation, between 700 and 1813 m. of the summit of Peñagolosa, which means the existence of most of the bioclimatic layers of the Mediterranean chorological region. The alternation of soils is a factor that enhances biodiversity, since the bedrock, being mostly calcareous (Limestone), alternates with siliceous materials (Sandstones and Quartzites).
In the lower limestone areas, there are holm oaks (Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia) and some gall oaks (Quercus faginea). On the way up, they are replaced by gall oak trees mixed with black pine (Pinus nigra subsp. salzmanii) with a very varied undergrowth that includes good populations of holly (Ilex aquifolium) and yew (Taxus baccata). Human activity is leading to progressive replacement of gall oaks with black pine forests.
In the terrains with siliceous soils grow one of the largest pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica) forest in the Valencian territory and mature forests of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) and european red pine (Pinus sylvestris), accompanied by rockroses (Cistus populifolius, C. laurifolius) and heathers (Erica arborea, E. scoparia and Calluna vulgaris).
In the highest parts, the peak of Peñagolosa and the Tossal Roig, there is a European red pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest, with savin juniper (Juniperus sabina), which is substituted in the culminating parts by a pulvinar vegetation of blue broom (Erinacea anthyllis).
In the pasture lands or formerly cultivated areas, there are grasslands surrounded by thorny shrubs including wild rose bushes (Rosa sp.), the endemic blackberry (Rubus vigoi),and hawthorns (Prunus espinosa, Crataegus monogyna)…
The floristic richness and the great diversity of plant formations is accompanied by a mycological richness, the provisional catalogue of which amounts to more than 800 species.