altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what was once a heavily wooded region. Flora and fauna Phytogeographically, the Mediterranean Basin together with the nearby Atlantic coast, the Mediterranean woodlands and forests and Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe of North Africa, the Black Sea coast of northeastern Anatolia, the southern coast of Crimea between Sevastopol and Feodosiya in Ukraine and the Black Sea coast between Anapa and Tuapse in Russia forms the Mediterranean Floristic Region, which belongs to the Tethyan Subkingdom of the Boreal Kingdom and is enclosed between the Circumboreal, Irano-Turanian, Saharo-Arabian and Macaronesian floristic regions. The Mediterranean Region was first proposed by German botanist August Grisebach in the late 19th century. The monotypic Drosophyllaceae, recently segregated from Droseraceae, is the only plant family endemic to the region. Among the endemic plant genera are: Anagyris Andryala Aphyllanthes Argania Argantoniella Bellardia Biserrula Bivonaea Bolanthus Boleum Callicotome Ceratocapnos Ceratonia Chamaerops Chronanthus Cladanthus Coridothymus Didesmus Dorystoechas Drosophyllum Euzomodendron Fedia Guiraoa Gyrocarion Helicodiceros Hermodactylus Hutera Hymenocarpus Ionopsidium Lafuentea Lagoecia Leuzea Lycocarpus Malope Morisia Ortegia Petagnia Petromarula Phillyrea Preslia Putoria Rothmaleria Rosmarinus Rupicapnos Santolina Staehelina Soleirolia Spartium Tetraclinis Trachelium Tremastelma Triplachne Vella The genera Aubrieta, Sesamoides, Cynara, Dracunculus, Arisarum and Biarum are nearly endemic. Among the endemic species prominent in the Mediterranean vegetation are the Aleppo pine, stone pine, Mediterranean cypress, bay laurel, Oriental sweetgum, holm oak, kermes oak, strawberry tree, Greek strawberry tree, mastic, terebinth, common myrtle, oleander, Acanthus mollis and Vitex agnus-castus. Moreover, many plant taxa are shared with one of the four neighboring floristic regions only. According to different versions of Armen Takhtajan's delineation, the Mediterranean Region is further subdivided into seven to nine floristic provinces: Southwestern Mediterranean (or Southern Moroccan and Southwestern Mediterranean), Ibero-Balearian (or Iberian and Balearian), Liguro-Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, East Mediterranean, South Mediterranean and Crimeo-Novorossiysk. The Mediterranean Basin is the largest of the world's five Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub regions. It is home to a number of plant communities, which vary with rainfall, elevation, latitude, and soil. Scrublands occur in the driest areas, especially areas near the seacoast where wind and salt spray are frequent. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean are known as garrigar in Catalan, garrigue in French, phrygana in Greek, tomillares in Spanish, and batha in Hebrew. Shrublands are dense thickets of evergreen sclerophyll shrubs and small trees and are the most