Geographical Reviews: The Vegetation of Algeria and Tunisia

Summary

This review assesses two complementary French publications on the vegetation of Algeria and Tunisia, both accompanied by Maire’s phytogeographic map. The region is divided into three natural zones: the lightly forested coastal belt, with evergreen and deciduous oaks, pines, cedar, olive, and associated trees; the interior steppes, characterized by grasses and Artemisia shrubs under 200–350 mm rainfall; and the Saharan desert, described as only ‘rarefied steppe.’ The concise atlas by Bernard and Roquevaire provides profiles and landscape photographs, while Maire’s memoir treats individual species with 60 illustrations. Together they establish a systematic phytogeographic framework for North Africa and reveal the ecological gradient from Mediterranean forest to desert.