biological diversity and tropical forests in tunisia - PART

2.3. FLORA
The vascular plants of Tunisia represent 115 families, 742 genera and
approximately 2200 species. Of the 115 families, 4 are represented by
more than 100 species (~abli 1987):
Asteraceae (254 species) Craminae ( 197)
Papilionaceae (21 6) Cruciferae (108)
A national total of 2200 species is fairly high compared to the adjacent
countries of Algeria (3150 species) and Libya (1800 species), both of
which are several times larger in area than Tunisia.
. The lack of high mountains in Tunisia has limited the evolution of
endemic plants to a total of 34, of which 14 are distinct species (figure
1 ) and 20 are infraspecific (~abli 1987). There are several other plants
that may be endemic to Tunisia, but insufficient information is knoun of
their range to be certain. The total number of true endemics is not
likely to be much over 50, which is considerably less than the number in
Algeria and Libya (approximately 250 and 134 endemics, respectively -
Heywood 1987).
Of 870 species of plants that are rare, threatened or endemic in North
Africa (IUCN 1980), 151 occur in Tunisia. The current local conservation
status is unknown for most of them and all have been insufficiently
documented for final status designation. At the national level, there are
307 rare and 99 very rare plants (~nnex 1). Of those 406 plants, 335 are
distinct species (not subspecies or forms), which is 15% of the flora. In
Algeria, rare plants constitute 33% of the total. Tunisia's rare flora
include 7 species endemic to the country (figure 1) and 81 species endemic
to North Africa and the northern Sahara. About 60% of ~unisia's rare
plants occur in the north and 32% occur in the center and south.
Figure 1
Plant Species Endemic to Tunisia
v Teucrium radicans v Linaria paradoxa
r Pancratum foetidum r L. cossoni
r Sporobolus tourneuxii r Crepis tunetana
Marrubium aschersonii Scabiosa farinosa
Plantago tunetana Silene barrattei (IUCN 1980)
r Lathyrus brachyodus Rumex tune tanus
VI
Anarrhinum brevifolium Paronychia chabloziana "