page_title: Flora of Morocco
section_title: The desert zones (semi-desert scrub, reg and sandy desert)
hierarchical_section_title: Flora of Morocco / The desert zones (semi-desert scrub, reg and sandy desert)
caption_attribution_description: English: Desert pavement in the Moroccan Sahara Français&#160;: Reg dans le Sahara Marocain
context_page_description: Morocco provides a refuge for a rich and diverse flora with about 4,200 taxa, of which 22% are endemic. The phytogeographic zones of Morocco comprise 8 zones: the Mediterranean zone, the Cedar zone, the sub-Alpine zone, the Alpine zone, the semi-desert scrub zone, the Reg, the sandy desert zone and the oases.
context_section_description: The Little Atlas and Djbel (Montane) Sahara.
  The Sahara desert is essentially a desert of herbs and small shrubs with larger shrubs and trees where moisture levels are higher. The dwarf-shrub community in the north comprises shrubs of less than 1 metre in height (usually about 50 cm.)as dominants. The bushes are often widely spaced, with a considerable amount of bare stony ground between the clumps which gives the vegetation a very parched appearance in the summers. Typical plants are Zizyphus lotus, Ziziphus spina-christi, Tamarix spp., Acacia spp., Moringa aptera, Salvadora persica, Thymus spp., Artemisia herba-alba, Noaea mucronata, Helianthemum spp., Braetama retam, Periploca aphylla, Suaeda spp., Salsola spp, Atriplex spp., Ephedra alata, Haloxylon articulatum, Pistacia atlantica and Achillea santolina.
  In steppe areas where the scrub vegetation is hardly developed desert grasses of a multiplicity of species are the climax vegetation. Ephemerals are common in the north, halophytes in the sandy areas. Succulent plants are uncommon. The sandy desert has virtually no vegetation. With rain vegetation increases in wadis (oueds - vallies, gullies, or streambeds that remain dry except during the rainy season),depressions and wherever runoff water augments rainfall. The soils of the Sahara are formed of rock debris and desert detritus and are very weakly developed. The characteristic species of these true desert areas which decrease as desert scrub becomes reg and then sandy desert are:- Faidherbia albida, A. raddiana, A. seyal, A. tortilis, Achillea santolina, Alyssum macrocalyx, Anabasis aretoides, A. articulata, Androcymbium punctataum, Aristoides coerulescens, Aristida pungens, Artemisia herba-alba, A. monosperma, Astragulus tribuloides, Atriplex halimus, Balanites aegyptiaca, Caligonum comosum, Caltropis procera, Cenchrus ciliaris, Citrullus colocynthus, Danthonia forskalii, Ephedra alata, Euphorbia guyoniana, Deverra scoparia , D. chloranthus, Linaria aegyptica, Annarrhinum fruticosum , Haloxylon guyonianum, Maerua crassifolia, Nerium oleander, Olea europaea, Panicum turgidum, Phoenix dactylifera, Populus euphratica Populus euphratica, Prosopis stephaniana, Rhus oxyacanthae, Roetboellia hirsuta, Salsola foetida, S.inermis, Salvadora persica, Stipa tortilis, Suaeda fruticosa, S.vermiculata, Tamarix articulata, Zilla spinosa, Zygophyllum Zygophyllum coccineum, Z. decumbens, Z' dumosum, and Capparis spinosa.
caption: Reg An inhospitable environment but here supporting a species of Acacia and desert hardy Deverra tortuosa
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