Adret alisier scrubland, dry variant with more thicket and juniper sabine moorland

The third panel of the jackdaw botanical trail presents this forest, which grows between 1300 and 1500 metres above sea level. It is a dry, thermophilic forest found on sunny slopes, directly on the limestone rock, in an area with little exposure to snow slides and avalanches. The soil is so poorly developed and the exposure so great that the errablaie is poorly developed. The thicket of roses and Alpine buckthorn forms the transition, sometimes appearing here as heathland with juniper sabine, a species that is not very common in the region. In the western Pre-Alps, Sabine juniper is rare and limited to dry, sunny, limestone regions where it grows isolated on inaccessible rocks. The sabine juniper can be seen in the company of its close relative, the common juniper, near the sign.

Sabine juniper, whose Latin name is juniperus sabina, is a member of the cupressaceae family. It is a flat-lying shrub with evergreen leaves that are needle-shaped when young and scale-like later on. They have a distinctive scent. This plant is rare in the Pre-Alps, where it is found in warm, sunny places. It is a relic of the harsher continental climate that prevailed 9,000 years ago, after the retreat of the glaciers. A large population can be seen clinging to the wall below the Choucas hut from the path. The plant is highly toxic, unlike the common juniper, which is also present on the trail.