The Riverain Flora in Nubia

Abstract

Studies on the riverain flora in Nubia have attracted scientific interest quite recently. Most explorers and plant collectors paid little attention to this extremely arid area with a few plants restricted to the banks of the Nile. Only around 1962, and in relation to the inundation of the Egyptian Nubia (started 1965), several expeditions of Egyptian and European botanists explored the Nubian land extending from Aswan (24 ° N) to the Dongola reach (18 ° N). This area had a remarkably uniform flora whereas considerable difference in the floral composition is noticed northwards and southwards of this area. Boulos (1966, 1967) recorded during the springs of 1963 and 1964 about 180 species of phanerogams in the Egyptian Nubia including Aswan. A near figure of 170 species was given by Abdallah et al. (1972a) from the same area, also during springs of 1962–1964. The author recorded over 200 species during 2 visits to Nubia in 1963, 1964 (unpublished reports) and a summer visit to Aswan area in 1967 (El Hadidi&Ghabbour 1968).