The Vegetation of Egypt

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Egypt: The Gift of the Nile

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 1-3

3. Physiography, Climate and Soil-Vegetation Relationships

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 4-14

4. The Western Desert

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 15-116

5. The Eastern Desert

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 117-260

6. The Sinai Peninsula

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 261-302

7. The Nile Region

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 303-364

8. The History of the Vegetation: Its Salient Features and Future Study

   • Mahmoud Abdel Zahran

   Pages 365-379

9. Back Matter

   Pages 380-424

   PDF

This book is an attempt to compile and integrate the information documented by many botanists, both Egyptians and others, about the vegetation of Egypt. The first treatise on the flora of Egypt, by Petrus Forsskäl, was published in 1775. Records of the Egyptian flora made during the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt (1778-1801) were provided by AR. Delile from 1809 to 1812 (Kassas, 1981). The early beginning of ecological studies of the vegetation of Egypt extended to the mid-nineteenth century. Two traditions may be re­ cognized. The first was general exploration and survey, for which one name is symbolic: Georges-Auguste Schweinfurth (1836-1925), a German scientist and explorer who lived in Egypt from 1863 to 1914. The second tradition was ecophysiological to explain the plant life in the dry desert. The work of G. Volkens (1887) remains a classic on xerophytism. These two traditions were maintained and expanded in further phases of ecological development associated with the es­ tablishment of the Egyptian University in 1925 (now the University the Swedish Gunnar of Cairo). The first professor of botany was Täckholm (1925-1929). He died young, and his wife Vivi Täckholm devoted her life to studying the flora of Egypt and gave leadership and inspiration to plant taxonomists in Egypt for some 50 years. She died in 1978. The second professor of botany in Egypt was F. W. Oliver (1929- 1932) followed by the British ecologist F. J. Lewis (1935-1947).

• Desert
• Egypt
• Nile
• Sustainability
• vegetation

Edition 1:
`...the long-needed descriptive account of the vegetation of Egypt...Egypt has a particularly interesting mix of plant life, and the communities in which species are assembled aare therefore of great interest to plant geographers and phytosociologists. Zharan and Willis...have divided the country into geographical regions...Within each of these areas the reader is provided with relevant information on geology, physiography, climate and land-use history before embarking on the vegetation itself, and this greatly enhances the value of the work for general travellers interested in botany and ecology...They have clearly done extensive field work and are acutely familiar with what seems like every corner of this large country...it is this kind of detail which makes the book valuable as a basis for the further development of national conservation policy.'
Nature
`The book is well-structured, which makes it readable and useful for research workers interested in pursuing studies on the ecology of plant life in Egypt.'
The Geographical Journal
`...an easily digestible yet flowing style, is a useful reference work...is a welcome addition.'
Journal of Biogeography

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