PORTUGAL’S TREES OF PUBLIC INTEREST: THEIR ROLE IN BOTANY AWARENESS

Based on the classification processes, from 1939 to 2012, of the National Register for Trees of Public Interest, from the Institute of Nature Conservation and Forests, it was verified that of the 278 municipalities, corresponding to the five Regions of Tourism of Continental Portugal, 130 municipalities do not have classification processes. Considering that is an environmental but also a social gap, the authors understand it is necessary to contribute to the social understanding of monumental trees through the promotion of scientific culture in botany, as an important means to emphasize its value, as an endogenous differentiation element of each region.