Flora of Egypt
Flora of Egypt
Egypt is a cross-road territory with its Mediterranean front connecting it with Europe with which it has had biotic exchanges during the Glacials and the Interglacials, and today we know that routes of migratory birds converge through Egypt. Two highway corridors join Egypt with tropical Africa and beyond: the Nile Valley and the basin of the Red Sea. The Sinai Peninsula is the bridge between Africa and Asia.
Six zones of vegetation have been recognized by phytogeographers on a global scale. Each zone is occupied by similar types of vegetation, with the same periods of growth and the same general adaptations to environment. The divisions are exclusively climatic and ecological; the systematic relations of the plants are not taken into consideration. These zones of vegetation are: the northern glacial zone, with a very short growth period (in the arctic and high altitudes); the northern zone of cold winters, with a growth period of 4–7 months; the northern zone of hot summers, comprising regions of the subtropics; the tropical zone, with no significant seasonal interruption of growth; and in the southern hemisphere the zone of the hot summers; and the cold zone. In the northern zone of hot summers there is no real winter, but there may be some interruption of growth in January. Xerophytism is well marked, although some regions are wet. Forest, maquis, chaparral, steppe and prairie are common in this zone. As indicated by Hassib (1951), the vegetation of Egypt belongs to this northern zone of hot summers. According to Eig’s system (1931–1932), Egypt comprises four fl oral provinces:
1. Mediterranean Province: This comprises the region around the Mediterranean Sea. It has mild winters with plentiful rain and dry summers. It is the region of evergreen maquis (except in Egypt) and forest associations. The northern Mediterranean coast of Egypt belongs here.
2. North African-Indian Desert Province: This is also known as the Saharo-Sindian Province. It encompasses the great desert from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the deserts of Sind, Punjab and South Afghanistan. The air is extremely dry, temperatures are high, rainfall is low, salty ground is abundant, there are few species and individual plants and the vegetation is uniform. The greater part of Egypt belongs here.
3. Central Asiatic Province: This is also known as the Irano-Turanian Province. It comprises a large region stretching east towards China west to the Mediterranean, north to the Northern extratropical deserts and south to the North African-Indian deserts. There is little rain, rather long dry periods, great temperature differences, an almost complete absence of forest growth, and a rich occurrence of species and endemics. The mountain region of Sinai and certain enclave areas in the Eastern Desert, e.g. Galala mountains of Egypt, belong here.
4. African Forest and Steppe Province: This is also known as the SudanoDeccanian Province. It comprises a belt of broad steppes and savannas from the Atlantic Ocean south of Sahara and north of the Equatorial Forest region, through Sonegambia to Eritrea and Ethiopia and through tropical Arabia and India, including the Deccan. There are tropical summer rains and dry and warm winters. The vegetation is dominated by, for example, tropical Acacias and the grasses Panicum and Andropogon. This is the region of steppes and savannas and the park forests which lose their leaves during the dry period. As an enclave the Gebel Elba mountainous region in the southeast of Egypt belongs here.
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