Floristic diversity of the Tagdempt region, Tiaret Mountains, Algeria

Abstract

Tiaret massif forest offers a very interesting model for studying the evolution of the flora in the region, with a variety of very remarkable vegetation distribution conditioned by a significant number of ecological factors (climate and anthropogenic activities). A floristic study was carried out in Tagdempt sector, characterized by semi-arid Mediterranean climate and forming a natural barrier against steppe development.The floristic analysis based on the method of Braun-Blanquet with a minimum surface of 100 m2 allowed us to draw up a list of 126 species belonging to 100 genera of 40 families. The most dominant family was Asteraceae with 23 species (18.3%), followed by Fabaceae and Poaceae with 12 (9.5%) and 9 species (7.1%), respectively. Among life forms, annual herbs represented 53.2%, followed by perennial shrub species (32.5%) and finally trees (14.3%). Biogeographically, the Mediterranean was the most dominant type (49.6%), whereas other types had low percentages. Moreover, out of the plants identified, six with different status were rare (4.76%), nine were endemic (7.14%) and only five of the taxa have official protection status under the Algerian legislation (3.96%).