After-Lunch Program: Our Mediterranean Heritage in Landscaping and Wine

Sponsored by the UCLA Emeriti Association and the UCLA Retirees Association (UCLARA)

The plant palette for our landscaping and the varieties of wine that we drink in Southern California have their origins in the Mediterranean Basin. Our Mediterranean-type climate with warm dry summers and cool wet winters is unique to just five regions of the world. In addition to California and the Mediterranean Basin, these include central Chile, the Cape Region of South Africa, and Southwestern Australia. All five regions hold great ecological significance as hot spots of biodiversity. This biodiversity offers expanded possibilities for climate-appropriate landscape plants and a broad availability of excellent wines.

Phil Rundel is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden. His research for many years has focused on the comparative ecology, biodiversity, and conservation of plants in the five Mediterranean-climate regions of the world. He joined the UCLA Faculty in 1983, and is a fifth generation Californian.