page_title: Wildlife of Libya
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Wildlife of Libya / Wildlife / Flora
context_page_description: The wildlife of Libya is spread over the Mediterranean coastline and encompasses large areas of the Saharan desert. The protection of wildlife is provided through appropriate legislation in seven national parks, five reserves, 24 protected areas, two wetlands under Ramsar Convention, and also in other areas. Apart from these, there are also five UNESCO World Heritage Sites related to culture. The most important national parks are the El-Kouf National Park and Karabolli National Park. The well known nature reserves are the Benghazi Reserve and the Zellaf Reserve. The wildlife species recorded in the country are 87 mammals and 338 species of birds.
  Libya's natural national assets are its nearly 2,000 kilometres of coastline and the vast Sahara desert which is the semiarid and arid region to the south. Its hills, ponds and coastal habitats which comprise coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, salt marshes, and mud flats add to its biodiversity. Some of the sites are important for migratory birds.
context_section_description: The plants found in the coastal zone are mostly herbaceous with abundance of grasses. The most recorded species are the asphodel (a herb of family of lily), Jabule, bougainvillea and oleander. There are also many plants under cultivation such as citrus and olive. There is a narrow buffer zone along the coast where agriculture is practiced. This zone also has grass lands. Moving away from the coast, the topography changes to the Green Mountains (Libya), which rises to a height of about 800 metres (2,600 ft). Influenced by the Mediterranean climate, the region has dense forest or maquis of juniper and lentisc trees, and also brome grass, canary grass, bluegrass, and rye grass. Since rainfall in the area is scanty, the cultivated trees consists of figs and olives. In the Nafusah Plateau, grasslands form the dominant vegetation. Moving towards south of the mountain range, Sahara desert environment dominates the region with limited cultivation of palm and fig trees around springs and natural oases. Date palms (near the oases), saltwort (used for making soda ash), spurge flax shrub, goosefoot, wormwood, and asphodel, cyrenaica are also reported in the wild. Sea grass meadows are reported to cover 1,500 kilometres (932.06 mi) between the Gulf of Sirte in Libya and the Gulf of Gabes in Tunisia.
  There are nearly 134 vascular plant species which are specific to Libya. These include:
  Cyclamen (rohlfsianum)
  Arbutus pavarii
  Sedum
  Anacamptis orchid (cyrenaica)
  Echinops cyrenaicus
  Linaria tarhunensis
  Pallenis cyrenaica
  Allium negrianum
  Silene cyrenaica
  Hypericum tauberti (Zürcher Herbarien)
  Cynara cyrenaica
  Poa pentapolitana
  Romulea cyrenaica
  Satureja
  linearifolia
  Nepeta cyrenaica
  Crocus boulosii
  Euphorbia pseudoapios
  Limonium teuchirae, Asperula tragacanthoides
  Orobanche cyrenaica
  Pachyctenium
  Libyella
  The last two plant species listed above are of endemic genera.
caption: Asphodelus albus
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