Bryophytes of the Cedar Groves of Lebanon

Abstract

The 35 bryophytes found in the cedar groves of Lebanon are listed and their world-wide ranges indicated. Cedrus libani and its ecology in Lebanon are described as a background to the list of bryophytes. Cedrus libani Loud., the cedar of Lebanon, is found outside of Lebanon in the Taurus and Amanus Mountains of Turkey south of 1 Special acknowledgement is made to Rockefeller Research Grants 3062-51 and 3063-21 which enabled me to produce this study. 2 Chicago Teachers College South, Chicago 21, Illinois. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.128 on Tue, 06 Sep 2016 05:53:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 110 THE BRYOLOGIST [Volume 68 Elmali, and a closely related species (or perhaps a variety of C. libani) the Cyprian cedar, Cedrus brevifolia Henry, is restricted to a small area including several thousand trees in the northwestern part of Cyprus in the Paphos Main Forest. The cedar is apparently hardy as far north as the zone where the average annual minimum temperature ranges from -5? to -100F. Basbous and De Tarade (1955) state that C. libani Loud. is found at altitudes from 1,300 to 2,000 meters in Lebanon, but that it thrives best at the higher altitudes. It reaches its southern limit in the Barouk-Ain Zhalta-Maasser Chouf area about 75 miles (121 km) from Beirut where at Barouk about 400 trees grow at 1,950 meters along both sides of a ravine. Cedar groves occur in north Lebanon at Bcharrb (Les Cadres), Hadeth Jobbb, and Ehden. Another little known grove of several thousand trees is found on the southeastern slopes of Jebel Kammouha east of Fnaidek. Perhaps those in the Ehden region are the most vigorous trees in Lebanon. They are principally on the northern slopes of a steep valley cut in cretaceous limestone and strewn with rocks. Conditions of environment here appear to be very favorable because there is considerable evidence of natural reseeding or reproduction of the trees. Basbous and De Tarade (1955) point out that C. libani grows well in both calcareous and siliceous soils, but is very sensitive to excessive soil moisture. They note further that it thrives particularly well in the karstic limestone areas of Lebanon, but is unsuccessful in