The Eryn Laegol was one of the few surviving remnants of the primeval forest of southern Gondor, which was spared the tree-fellings of the Númenóreans because it was Dor-in-Edhil (S. "Elvenland"), and therefore sacrosanct in the eyes of the Dúnedain. In its origin, the Eryn Laegol was primarily a forest of oak and beech; but the exiles from Beleriand brought with them many seedlings of such trees as had grown in the great woodland realm of Doriath in ancient days, or upon the Falas beside the havens of the Falathrim. The most treasured of all these was the gwingorn.