Diversity and Conservation

Abstract

Not all of the early travellers and plant collectors to Arabia shared Aucher-Éloy’s pessimistic musings about the barrenness of the land and its impoverished diversity, although his estimate of the number of species in northern Oman was not far wrong (Ghazanfar 1996a). Theophrastus, probably using accounts brought home by Greek sailors, wrote of the Yemeni highlands in 295 BC that “... the mountains, they say, are lofty, forest-covered and subject to snow, and rivers from them flow down into the plain...” (quoted in Groom 1981, from Hort 1916). Niebuhr (in the introduction to Forsskål 1775) wrote of the valley of Surdud in Yemen that “... surrounded by mountains, and profiting from cool climate and abundant water, [it] was exuberantly rich in plants... ”. In addition to these pleasant impressions, the great trade between southern Arabia and Europe in frankincense, myrrh and spices gained the Arabs of southern Arabia a reputation for great wealth, and their country became known as Arabia Felix (Groom 1981: pp. 9–11), providing the title for Bertram Thomas’ well-known work (1932) of the same name.

“To sum up, I have not collected more than 250 species over the whole of the Immamat of Muscat. The local people say that very shortly after the rains (which occur once or twice a year) the land is covered with flowers. In any case I am convinced that in this country, the most barren in the world, it would be difficult to find more than 500 species.”

Aucher-Éloy, in 1838, after his botanical excursion to Oman (Jaubert 1843).

Sections 12.4.5 Saudi Arabia

Sections 12.4.2 Kuwait

Sections 12.4.1 Bahrain

Sections 12.4.6 United Arab Emirates