Analysis of the Flora of Mediterranean and Saharan Africa

After defining the state of knowledge and reviewing national inventories, the author looks at the reasons which led him to study Mediterranean and Saharan Africa and to detail their biogeographical significanceFor Mediterranean and Saharan Africa, the generic and specific richness, the richness of endemics, and the entire bioge ographical range are first analyzed a t the family level.In the t A ' graphical significance of the endemic taxa.It appears that the flora of ME neat Africa is about three times dod than that of Saharan Africa and that endemism there is two times greater.Whereas the flora of Mediterranean Africa is for the most part made up of Mediterranean taxa, in Saharan Abus there is a nearly equal distribution of Mediterranean, Saharoian, and tropical elements.These pee ww are related to the hostile ecological conditions which govern the Sahara now, but also reflect the Bee disturbances which to place during the Pleistocene.A special chapter > pika to a discussion o Ce historical interpretation of the flora of Medilerranean and Saharan Africa, taking into account the new data provided by pen and e Ae It is concluded that the V e dint flora is relatively old and goes back at least as far as the middle Miocene, whereas the present ds region since the Pliocene.In each of these cases emphasis has been placed on the role elements of African origin played in the K en of the present flora.* The Sinai Peninsula, being situated geographically in Asia, will not be considered here.