La flore des massifs Sahariens: espêces illusoires et endémiques vraies

Abstract

THE FLORA IN THE SOUTHERN SAHARA MOUNTAIN MASSES: ILLUSIVE AND TRUE ENDEMIC SPECIES

The mountain masses in the southern part of the Sahara, namely Hoggar, Tassili n 'Ajjer, Air, Tibesti, Ennedi, Jebel Marra and Gebel Elba, have fascinated botanists to such an extent that there has been successive and even multiple creation of new species.

This situation can be partly explained by the fact that those who were interested in these areas, although undoubtedly world experts in the Mediterranean area, have less knowledge of the African tropical flora.

As a result, certain botanical literature, some quite recent, abounds in binomials, some merely synonyms of older names of well-known species. The problem is aggravated by the fact that a number of authors do not keep up with recent literature.

A breakdown of the 85 species previously accepted as endemics reveals that: 37 were incorrectly identified (Table I) ; 7 changed their names either for systematic or nomenclatural reasons (Table 2); I is known only from the type (Quezelia) and requires further collection; 31 belong to difficult genera and require further study (p. 513); and 9 are true endemics (p. 514).

This study shows that the number of endemic species from the mountainous enclaves in the dry northern-tropical areas is considerably lower than previously estimated. With more material and with the aid of distribution maps, it is now possible to put the number of true endemics at 12 species.