flora arabian peninsula socotra

21 Pages·2013·2.21 MB·English

FLORA
OFT HE
ARABIAPNE NINSULA
AND
SOCOTRA
VOLUME 1
A.G .M ILLEARN DT .A .C OPE
FLORA OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA
AND SOCOTRA
VOLUME 1
ROYAL
BOTANIC
GARDEN
EDINBURGH
ROYAL
BOTANIC
GARDENS
KEW
FLORA
OF THE
ARABIAN PENINSULA
AND
SOCOTRA
VOLUME 1
A. G. MILLER and T. A. COPE
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
J. A. NYBERG
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN EDINBURGH
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW
© A. G. MillerandT. A. Cope 1996
EdinburghUniversityPress
22GeorgeSquare, Edinburgh
Designedby GeoffGreen
BritishLibraryCataloguingin PublicationData
is availableforthisbook
ISBN0 748604758
SetinMonotypeTimesby BPCDigital Data Ltd,Glasgow
and printedand boundinGreat Britain
CONTENTS
Preface vn
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
Bibliography xiii
Listof Familiesin Volume One xvii
Listoffigures xix
Introduction 1
Geology and Topography 1
Climate 8
Vegetation 13
Floristics 22
Phytogeography 25
History of Botanical Exploration 27
Conservation and Threats 28
Planofthe Flora 30
The Flora 32
Pteridophyta 33
Spermatophyta 71
Gymnospermae 71
Angiospermae 80
Maps 495
Index 574
PREFACE
Scientificstudies ofthe Arabianflora began over 200years ago with Pehr Forsskal's
ill-fated expedition to 'Arabia Felix' and the posthumous publication in 1775ofhis
FloraAegyptiaco-Arabica. Since then countless collectors and travellers have visited
Arabia yet, whilst there has been considerableinterestin the plants ofthe region, no
detailedFloraofthePeninsulahasbeenattempted.Theonlyworkcoveringtheentire
region is Blatter's FloraArabica (1919-1936). However, this is of limited practical
use, being little more than an annotated checklist, and is now largely out ofdate.
Schwartz'sFloradesTropischen Arabien (1939)covers tropicalArabia roughlysouth
ofa line from Jeddah to Muscat. This is more up to date but is, again, primarily a
checklistcontainingonly a fewdescriptions ofnewtaxa. The island ofSocotra has a
morecompletecoverage thananyequivalentarea onthemainlandthanksto Balfour's
monumental BotanyofSocotra(1888)which containsbothdetailed descriptionsand
excellentillustrations.
Since the publicationofthese works, andparticularlyin the lastfifteen years, there
hasbeenanenormousincreaseofinterestintheArabianfloraanda numberofworks
coveringindividualcountriesand regionshaveappeared. Themostimportantofthese
are: Al-Rawi and Daoud's Flora ofKuwait (1985, 1987), Batanouny's Ecology and
FloraofQatar(1981),Collenette'sAnIllustratedGuide totheflowersofSaudiArabia
(1985),Cornes and Cornes' The wildfloweringplantsofBahrain (1989),Mandaville's
FloraofEasternSaudiArabia (1990),Migahid'sFloraofSaudiArabia (1978),Miller
and Morris' Plants ofDhofar (1988), Phillips' Wildflowers ofBahrain(1988) and
Western's TheFlora of The UnitedArabEmirates (1989). These vary in style and
completeness but none cover in any detail the floristically richest areas in the south
and southwest ofthe Peninsula.
Some ten years ago the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Royal Botanic
Gardens Kew, recognising that the absence of a modern Flora covering the entire
regionwasamajorconstraintonresearchconcerningthenatural environment ofthe
Peninsula, began a project to produce a Floraofthe Arabian Peninsulaand Socotra
which has resulted in the publication ofthe presentvolume.
The FloraoftheArabianPeninsulaandSocotraaims to provide a regional frame
work for the flora ofthe countries of the Arabian Peninsula. It includes all native
flowering plants and ferns as well as cultivated and amenity plants of economic
importance found in the following countries: Saudi Arabia, the Republic ofYemen
(including the Socotran archipelago), Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar,
Bahrain and Kuwait.
Preface
The Floraaimsto be ofuse to specialistandamateuralike. Descriptionsareconcise
andkeysareconstructedto besimpleandeasy to use. Itiscomprehensivelyillustrated
and, as it is intended as a reference source, full citations have been given for species
and synonyms, with referencesto usefulworks also supplied. Dotmapsare provided
for all species. Detailed notes on ecology, the uses of plants and local names have
been excluded for the most part, as it is felt that these would be better dealt with in
local Floras. Noattempthasbeen madeto solve alltaxonomicproblemsencountered;
many plants are inadequately known or only known from single gatherings. Notes
have been given where groups and plants require further research.
Five further volumes are planned. The sequence offamilies will follow the system
ofEngler and Prantl: volume 2, from Leguminosae to Vitaceae (including Euphor-
biaceae); volume 3, Tiliaceae to Verbenacaeae (including Umbelliferae, Ascle-
piadaceae, Rubiaceae, Convolvulaceae and Boraginaceae); volume 4, from Labiatae
to Compositae (including Scrophulariaceae and Acanthaceae); volume 5, the mon-
ocots; and finally volume 6 will contain a key to families and monographicchapters
on vegetation, phytogeography, etc. The editors would be interested to hear from
anyoneinterested in contributingto future volumes*.
acknowledgements
The research for volume one has been undertaken largely in the Herbarium ofthe
Royal BotanicGarden Edinburghwith regularvisitsto the Royal BotanicGardens,
Kewand the Natural History Museum.Wewish to thankthe Directors and Curators
ofthese herbaria for providing facilities and loans ofspecimens, and the numerous
members ofstaffwho have provided help and advice over the years. We would also
liketo acknowledgethe supportand guidance provided by pastand presentmembers
ofthe Flora management group, including J.F.M. Cannon, J. Cullen, I.C. Hedge,
D.S. Ingram, G.LI. Lucas, D.G. Mann, N.K.B. Robsonand G. Wickens.
A numberofcollaborators have revised and commentedupon families and genera
forvolumeone. We areindebtedto the following: L. Boulos, K. Browicz, S. Holmes,
D.F. Chamberlain, R.A. Clement, A. Farjon, H.E. Freitag, I. Friis, M.G. Gilbert,
B.E. Jonsell, L.E. Kers, J. Lamond, D.G. Long, D.R. McKean, L.J. Musselman,
C.N. Page, E. Raadts, K.H. Rechinger, N.K.B. Robson, N.P. Taylor, M. Thomas,
M. Thulin, C.C. Townsend, M. Maier-Stolte and S. J. Zmarzty.
We arealso particularly grateful to L. Boulos forhiscriticalrevision ofthe Chen-
opodiaceaeand for his support and help overthe years; S. Chaudhary forcritically
commentingon alltheaccountsinvolume oneand formaking many additions to the
distribution maps from specimens held in the Riyadh Herbarium; S. Collenette for
advice on the distributions ofSaudi Arabian plants and for her useful comments on
the draft accounts; R.A. Clement for invaluable assistance during the early stages of
theproject,andinparticularforherwork ontheCaryophyllaceae; D.F.Chamberlain
formuch useful advice and support over the years;R. Cameron and D. Mitchell for
looking after the livingcollections ofArabian plantsat Edinburgh; J.R.I. Wood for
manyuseful discussions and forgenerouslyallowingusto usethe data from hiscard
index ofthe North Yemen flora; F.N. Hepper for checking the Forsskal names in
volume one; S. Ghazanfar, I. McLeish, S.A. Gabali, J.P. Mandaville, R.R. Mill and
C. Will for reading and commenting on early drafts ofthe introduction and other
parts ofthe Floraand finallyto the late Dorothy Hillcoatwho, for so many years
and almost single-handedly, kept aliveresearchinto the Arabian flora.
The maps and illustrations were preparedby Mary Bates,A. Farrar,P. Halliday,
A. Lezemore, M. Main, G. Malcolm, R. Park, O.M. Parry, G.A. Rodriguez, G.
Shephard and M. Tebbs. We wouldliketo thank A. Farjon forallowing usto usehis
drawings of Juniperus and F. White and J. Leonard for allowing us to use their
Phytogeographical map ofAfrica and Asia. We would alsolike to acknowledge the
Acknowledgements
support given by the Friendsofthe Royal Botanic Garden Edinburghwho provided
funds for the illustrationsofCrassulaceae and Rosaceae.
The present workcouldnothave beencarriedoutwithoutextensivesupportinthe
field. Many people have given us help with transport, accommodation and in many
other ways. We thank all ofthese and would like to give our particular thanks to
A. Al-Rawi, V. Armer, M. Bazara, A.S. Bilaidi, R. Daly, U. Deil, J.R. Edmondson,
D. Forester, M.D. Gallagher, N. Gifri, J. Grainger, L. Guarino, J.J. Lavranos, I.
McLeish, M. Morris, A. Mukred, K. Muller-Hohenstein, N. Obadi, A. Podzorski,
M. and K. Stanley-Price, T. Tear, R.A. Western, R.P. Whitcombe, D. Wood and
J.R.I. Wood.
Finally, the editors would like to thank Ian Davidson of Edinburgh University
Press and Norma Gregory of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for editorial
assistance during the production ofthis first volume.
The editors, whilst acknowledging the help ofall those mentioned above, accept
full responsibility for anymistakes.
A.G. Miller andT.A. Cope