Abstract
The flora of the Sahel is rather poor, i.e. approximately 1500 species of flowering plants for an area of 3 million km2. The flora is typically paleotropical. The richest families are: Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Leguminoseae, Capparidaceae, Malvaceae, Convolvulaceae, Zygophyllaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Acanthaceae and Solanaceae. The rate of endemism is very low: some 40 species, i.e. 3% (White 1983). There are some 200 species confined to the intertropical African arid zone of West, East and South Africa. Many species are shared with the Sudanian zone, which, in the Sahel, are restricted to watercourses, around ponds and areas subject to flooding.
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Le Houérou, H.N. (1989). Flora and Vegetation. In: The Grazing Land Ecosystems of the African Sahel. Ecological Studies, vol 75. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74457-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74457-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74459-4
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