title: Floristic diversity and vegetation analysis of Wadi Arar: A typical desert Wadi of the Northern Border region of Saudi Arabia.
abstract: Wadi Arar in the Northern border region of Saudi Arabia is one of the most important Wadis of the Kingdom. The present study provides an analysis of vegetation types, life forms, as well as floristic categories and species distribution. A total of 196 species representing 31 families of vascular plants were recorded. Compositae, Gramineae and Leguminosae were the most common families. Therophytes and chamaephytes are the most frequent life forms, indicating typical desert spectrum vegetation. The distribution of these species in the different sectors of the Wadi as well as the phytochoria for the recorded species is provided. Ninety-one species (46.5%) are typical bi-regional. Furthermore, about 105 species (53.5%) are mono- or pluriregional taxa. The highest number of species (136 or 69.5%) was recorded for annual plants, while the lowest number of species (60% or 30.5%) was recorded for perennial, short perennial or annual to biennial species.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia ; Botany Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Osman
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia ; Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Abd El-Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Faraj
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Al-Ghamdi
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia ; Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Aleppo, Syria.
authors.forename: Abdulhakim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bawadekji
keywords: Flora; Floristic diversity; Floristic survey; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Northern border region; Wadi Arar