Comparison Between Plants of Desert Dunes, Extreme Desert, and Coastal Dunes

Abstract

The principal differences between the plants of desert and coastal dune areas are that in many coastal dune systems, plants have to withstand the stresses of salt-spray and inundation by sea water in addition to that of sand mobility (Costing and Billings 1942; Boyce 1954; Barbour et al. 1973, 1985; Chapman 1976). Coastal dunes are populated by plant species different from those of the desert. In contrast to the large proportion of grass species in desert dunes, coastal dunes are floristically more diverse. For example, the coastal dunes of East London, South Africa, are rich in species of Asteraceae and Goodeniaceae, and only a small proportion of species are Poaceae (Burns and Lubke 1986). Similarly, sandy coasts of California are populated with species of Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Nyctaginaceae, and Onagraceae (Barbour et al. 1973, 1985).