Key Takeaways

­Just ­about every tree has an out layer of phellem barque , but thecork oak(Quercus suber ) is the primary source of most cork intersection in the world , include wine-colored bottle stoppers . These tree mainly produce in countries that run along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea , where there ’s plenty of sunshine , low rainfall and high humidity . The country that produce the most cork include Portugal , Algeria , Spain , Morocco , France , Italy and Tunisia .

So , why does the cork oak have a thicker layer of cork bark than other trees ? The tree diagram evolve to protect itself from the harsh conditions of the wood near the Mediterranean . These forest experience frequent droughts , brush fire and temperature variation . Cork is actually made of water - resistantcellsthat separate the outer bark from the delicate internal bark . It has a alone band of properties not found in any other naturally existing material . It is lightweight , molder insubordinate , fervor resistant , termite resistant , impermeable to gaseous state and liquid , soft and floaty . It ’s these properties that make it idealistic for stopping wine bottle and roofing tile floor . Let ’s take a tone at how phellem gets stripped from the tree diagram and process into consumer products .

Cork has been used as bottle stoppers for more than 400 age . It is perhaps the well befit cloth to practice as a bottleful show-stopper because it hold a natural waxy nitty-gritty , calledsuberin . This substance makes phellem impermeable to liquids and flatulence , and prevents the cork from waste .

A wine cork with a cork screw in the background

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