Geographical reviews: The Vegetation of Algeria and Tunisia

Summary

Forrest Shreve reviews Bernard and de Flotte de Roquevaire's Atlas d'Algérie et de Tunisie, Part IV: Carte de la végétation (1925), alongside René Maire's Carte Phytogéographique de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie (1926). Both contain the same colored phytogeographic map, prepared by Maire with Battandier, G. Lapie, P. de Peyerimhoff, and Trabut. The atlas fascicle provides a concise vegetation description, 13 half-tone illustrations that Shreve considers well selected, and four profiles using the map's colors; Maire's publication offers greater detail and 60 illustrations of individual species. The review outlines three vegetation regions: a lightly forested coastal zone receiving 400–1600 mm of annual rainfall, with oaks, olives and other trees; steppes receiving 200–350 mm, characterized by grasses and Artemisia shrubs; and the Saharan desert, whose vegetation both publications describe as “rarefied steppe.” It also traces the distribution of pine, cedar, juniper and Callitris across mountains, coastal areas and desert margins.