Part 9

Among the definitive physical factors by which the composition of a forest is determined—the rainfall, the temperature, the soil, and the altitude—probably of the first rank should be considered the rainfall and the temperature, which are affected by the altitude. In the case of the distribution of the cork oak, however, the character of the soil plays an important rôle. This species grows only on sandy soil, and where the rainfall exceeds 600 mm. Because of the latter requirement the larger part of the cork-oak forested area is east of Algiers, the annual rainfall to the west of that place falling for the most part under 600 mm. Similarly the minor features of distribution, inside of the specific range, may be explained. For example, in the upper limits of its range, Pinus halepensis appears chiefly on southern slopes, as on Mount Gorno, while at the low altitudes it is to be found on the northern face; temperature reactions apparently—familiar phenomena in mountainous districts.

Because of the unison of response to common environmental factors, much of the forested area, especially at the higher altitudes, is composed of one species or one species largely predominates. This is true of the pine and the cedar forests to a marked degree; e.g., in the pine forests on Mount Gorno and the cedar near Batna.

Commercially speaking, the cork oak is at present the most important species in Algeria. It occupies about 600,000 acres, and the yearly yield is valued at nearly $1,000,000. It may be seen along the railroad between Tunis and Constantine and east of Algiers. When old the species has a peculiarly gnarled appearance, with a short, stout bole, usually hollow, which may become 10 feet in diameter, with irregular, straggling branches. It is less symmetrical in nature than under cultivation, as in the Santa Clara Valley and Santa Barbara, California, where a few specimens may be found. Another species of oak, Quercus ballota, of no great commercial importance, provides the source of the acorns in general use among the natives for food. The acorns are found in all markets, even (as in Ouargla and Ghardaia) where transportation for considerable distance is necessary; they are less astringent and hence more pleasant than those of most species. Although Q. ballota appears not to be planted for its fruit, it has been stated (Kearney and Means, loc. cit.) that the Kabyles preserve such selected trees as have superior fruit, which would perpetuate the best-liked varieties. It may be remarked in passing that the seeds of the pine are also in common use among the Arabs as a food, although not employed so generally nor in so many ways as the acorn.

The cedar (Cedrus atlantica), the most beautiful tree in Algeria, is found in high altitudes only and on mountains separated from one another, but always in the more northern Atlas ranges. In the following mountain groups are to be found the main cedar forests, namely: Ouarensis, Teniet, Blida, Babor, Maadid, and the Aurés. The forest seen was that near Batna, near the western base of the most important range in Algeria, the Aurés. Somewhat below the lower limit of the Batna cedar forest is an open forest of oaks (Quercus mirbeckii), Juniperus oxycedrus, and J. phœnicea, mingled with which are shrubs suggesting those of the desert, such as Acanthyllis numidica and Retama sphærocarpa, as each genus is represented south of the Saharan Atlas on the open desert. These species are mainly confined to the southern facing, and hence on the side of the mountains opposite the beginning of the cedar. By the roadside are to be seen also several specimens of Juniperus oxycedrus badly infested with the mistletoe (Arceuthobium oxycedri). In one instance the unusual condition was observed of a mistletoe group remaining alive on a host branch which appeared to be dead for several inches below the point of attachment.

The first representatives of the cedar forest were encountered as stragglers in the dry wash at the north base of the mountain on which the forest is situated. In part these trees were shapely, with a taper summit, and in part they were short, with a summit broad and flat, in effect like an inverted cone. When the main forest was entered the trees were mainly of the type first characterized, with widely reaching lower branches and slender summits. In exposed places or in older parts of the forest the trees of the second type were often seen; and on the crest of the mountain the most bizarre shapes (induced by wind action), the trunks nearly parallel to the ground and the branches hugging the ground. In the upper portion of the forest the trees were more widely separated than in the lower portion, and here and there we met with really large specimens, which must have been very ancient. One of the large trees had a bole which 1 meter above the ground was about 5 meters in circumference. The trees were fruiting freely, but we did not see many seedlings. Why, was not apparent. There were no indications that fires had swept over the mountain recently.

=THE HIGH PLATEAU.=

The vegetation of the High Plateau, taken as a whole, is sparse, due in part to rather light annual precipitation, but largely to the lack of efficient drainage, for which reason large areas are so heavily charged with salts as to be inimical to most plants. Halophytes form an important element in the flora of this region. In the most intense salt areas no plants are to be found at any season. Along the oueds such shrubs as species of Tamarix and Zizyphus occur, and juniper may be seen in the more elevated places, such as near Guelt-es-Stel or further toward Djelfa.

The route followed across the High Plateau ran from Boghari to Ain Ossera, Guelt-es-Stel, and Djelfa, which is in the midst of the Saharan Atlas, and from thence to Laghouat.

=BOGHARI TO LAGHOUAT.=

Boghari, situated at the place where the Oued Chelif, having come across the High Plateau, enters the Tellian Atlas on its way through them to the Mediterranean, lies on the northern edge of the High Plateau and in what appears to be a fairly arid region. The oued at this place is rather narrow and has low banks. In its bed, in October, were a few pools of water. On either side is the flood-plain of the oued, several meters in width, sometimes partly under cultivation. Tilled fields are to be seen to the west and not far from the town. From the low mountains immediately to the west of the town the steppes stretch unbroken (save by low hills) to mountains bounding the southern horizon, possibly 100 miles straight away. The mountains are the Dj. Sahari, the Saharan Atlas, beyond which lies the desert.

The vegetation in the neighborhood of Boghari is at present meager in amount and of small size. Along the banks of the Chelif are a few tamarisks, and on the plain not far from the oued are a few specimens of Zizyphus vulgaris and Pistacia lentiscus and other low-growing shrubs. Owing to the large number of sheep, goats, and camels which are driven through the pass of the Chelif, or which are kept in the neighborhood by their Boghari owners, few plants thereabouts fail to exhibit indications of being eaten. In fact, at Boghari the effects of grazing were first noticed, though afterwards repeatedly seen. Only such plants as are poisonous, distasteful, or heavily armed survive the predatory attacks of the countless numbers of domestic animals.

The habitat of Pinus halepensis, which thus extends to the very edge of the steppes, is to the east and west of the town. To the west it forms an open forest and is associated with Quercus ballota, growing on the crest and on the northern slopes of the low mountains. Its abundant fruit, together with acorns, is gathered assiduously by the Arabs for food. Juniperus oxycedrus and J. phœnicea also occur.

After leaving Boghari and the plain by the Oued Chelif, the route goes among low, rounded hills for a distance of about 24 kilometers, when it strikes boldly across the wide-extending plain. The general appearance of the vegetation, away from the intensely salty chotts, is that of low-growing shrubs on the plain, and of somewhat higher shrubs or low trees along oueds. Of the former, perhaps the most abundant are Noæa spinosissima and Haloxylon sp., and by the oueds Tamarix sp. and Zizyphus sp. Near Ain Oussera is a wide belt of Stipa tenacissima, the alfa grass, which occurs nearly to the exclusion of other species, and a second belt of alfa, several kilometers in width where crossed, was seen very soon after leaving Guelt-es-Stel. At each of these places were seen large piles of the grass baled ready for hauling to Algiers.

The alfa, or bunch-grass, covers large areas in Algeria as also in Spain. In November the long leaves of the grass are dry, tightly rolled, and rush-formed, in place of being flat as during the rainy season or period of growth. The species reproduces largely by means of much-branched rhizomes, from which spring the young, fleshy leaves, enlarged at the base. In Algeria, “situées en territoire civil,” there are 543,620 acres of alfa, mostly on the High Plateau, but a part along the littoral in the province of Oran, west of Algiers. The leading environmental influence upon the peculiar distribution of the species is apparently that of rainfall, reacting in this respect very like plants with storage organs, avoiding alike regions where the rainfall is excessively heavy or where it is so little as to cause marked desertic conditions. It is apparently confined to sandy soils and is replaced by others wherever the soil of a region (otherwise appropriate for its growth) is of clay or is charged with any considerable amounts of salts. It is an important article of export from Algeria. Its total tonnage is said to amount to 80,000 each year, bringing approximately $1,500,000. It is sent to England, Belgium, and France, and used in the manufacture of fine grades of paper, light, strong, and of a silky texture; also in making baskets, hats, and mats, for which a superior grade of the grass, commanding especially high prices, is employed (Kearney and Means, loc. cit.).

Among other species commonly seen in crossing the steppes are various salt-bushes, such as Haloxylon articulatum and Anabasis articulata and especially Artemisia herba-alba, with Tamarix and a few specimens of Pistacia along the oueds or where water conditions are most favorable. Between the belt of alfa last mentioned and El Masserane, a bordj, there is a broad plain surrounded by low mountains, which are really the northern extension of the broad Saharan Atlas, where salt-bushes occur in a formation several kilometers, possibly 24, across. Here in the summer the nomads, coming up out of the desert, find grazing for their flocks, and even in October we saw countless numbers of sheep and goats, and hundreds of camels, browsing the shrubs.

At El Masserane are specimens of large Tamarix, really the size of small trees, growing near the bordj; and to the south of the bordj we passed the first dunes encountered on the plateau. These are part of a series of dunes which were seen to extend to the horizon to the northeast, as we approached El Masserane, and which, we were informed, reached as far as Bou Saada, nearly 90 kilometers distant. The dune flora was quite different from that of the surrounding plain, owing to the total absence of salt plants, and to the presence, among other species, of a Tamarix and a large grass, the “drinn” (Aristida pungens), which was subsequently frequently seen.

Soon after passing the dunes the way lay through a country with low mountains, almost bare of vegetation, where scattering oaks and junipers constitute the only species of plants, until we reached the walled town of Djelfa.

=DJELFA TO LAGHOUAT.=

The bleakness and the bareness of the environs of Djelfa come with a surprise when one considers that the rainfall of the place is not inconsiderable, about 375 mm., and that the altitude is about 1,110 meters, which insures a fairly low temperature and hence a relatively low evaporation rate. The sparseness of the vegetation is probably partly due to the fact that the rainfall does not occur at one or at two seasons, as nearer the coast, but is distributed fairly evenly between the four seasons, and also to the long occupancy by the Arabs and the French, by which possibly most of the useful native plants, large and small, have long since been destroyed. Somewhat removed from the town, particularly on the mountains to the west, is a forest of pines. Along the streets are many shade trees, as Lombardy poplar, ash, locust, and others, and within the town limits is a small but fine public park and experimental garden with a large variety of shrubs and trees.

From Djelfa to Laghouat the road runs through barren mountain passes, and is dreary and of little interest. Tristram’s description of the approach to Laghouat, written about 1860, gives very well the present condition of things:

The next day’s journey was through a rocky desert country. . . . We afterwards passed a low-lying strip of sand-hills on the west, with the marks of an ancient ocean beach; on the east a high range of mountains, with the stratification regular and horizontal. . . . Our next day’s ride was by a base of a continuous chain of steep ridges, again with an even water-line very near the crest, and presenting a singular serrated appearance (the Djebel Lazareg). I counted no less than 127 little peaks rising above this straight horizontal line, almost all of them of equal height, like the crests of a long sea-reef; and lower down the sides were many tidal strings, if I may so term them. Turning around to our left and crossing the dry channel of an evaporated and aged “Wed,” we had some low headlands close behind us—Ras Ainyah of the Arabs, “Prise d’eau” of the French—the scene of a bloody combat under General Yusuf. Through an opening between the mountains we debouched on a wide plain, and suddenly before us stood an isolated rock. Two cliffs facing each other bore each a bastioned tower, and in a depression between these lay a town.

The town, whose situation is thus so graphically presented, is Laghouat, of which the leading present interest lies in the fact that it is on the very edge of the Sahara proper. From the rocky hills by the town one can see the serrated Saharan Atlas to the north, extending northeast and southwest, and, turning, to the south, an expansive and gently undulating bare plain, stretching without a break to the horizon.

=LAGHOUAT.=

The ancient Arab town of Laghouat, which is also an important military post, is a very favorable place from which to begin a study of the plants and the environment of the plants of the northern Sahara. Its altitude (780 meters) is greater than that of Ghardaia (520 meters), as also that of the latter place is greater than the altitude of Ouargla (150 meters). The annual rainfall of Laghouat is more than that at either of the places mentioned and more dependable. The surface of the desert at Laghouat is, for example, not of one type only, but characteristic of much of the Sahara; that is, it is mainly stony, a hamada, but there are also sand areas, a oued and its flood-plain. Finally, the plants growing in the vicinity of Laghouat are largely typical of those found farther to the south, as at Ghardaia and Ouargla, or even deeper in the desert. It is of great interest to observe the change in the habits of the plants, in their number, distribution, and other features, when one leaves a less arid region and goes toward a region of gradually increasing aridity, as when passing southward from Laghouat.

The leading plant habitats are the oasis, the arid plain, and the dunes. It is not likely that any of these habitats have been greatly changed because of the settlement by Arabs. The arid plain and the dunes surely have per se not suffered marked alteration, and the oasis itself is probably not so different from what it was formerly, as the great difference in plants growing in it might at first lead one to suspect. More water is brought to the surface at present than in primitive times, but if it were possible to remove all introduced plants, and restore all native plants peculiar to the oasis, there is no apparent reason why they should not live there quite as successfully as in earlier times. It does not follow that there has been no modification of the flora itself, a result of the founding of a town at the oasis, and it will be pointed out later that such has surely been the case, but to what extent or in what way does not appear.

THE OASIS OF LAGHOUAT.

The oasis of Laghouat is situated on the Oued Mzi, the upper portion of the Oued Djedi, one of the most important oueds of Algeria. The Oued Djedi runs in an easterly direction from Laghouat, receiving many tributary oueds en route, by a rather long course to the great Chott Melrirh, which is southeast of Biskra. Like other desert rivers, the Oued Djedi is dry most of the year, but is occasionally filled to overflowing with a rushing flood, which is of great erosive power and may be very dangerous to the traveler. Above the town of Laghouat, where the Oued breaks through the last pass of the Atlas, the flood-plain is narrow, but upon leaving the pass the plain widens until in the immediate proximity of the town it is about 1.5 kilometers in width. On either side of the flood-plain stretches the arid plain (hamada), usually stony, but near the mountains covered with low, slowly moving sand ridges. To the south of the oasis, the arid plain merges into the topography characteristic of the region of the dayas.

The portion of the oasis devoted to the cultivation of date and other trees, and to gardens, is about 3 square kilometers in size, but arable land extends above and below the town, so that outside of the oasis, as delimited above, there are about 6 square kilometers, all of which have at times been under cultivation. The last referred to is the flood-plain of the oued and is used mainly for growing barley. By the edge of the oued, or along the irrigating ditches, are several characteristic species of plants, which may point to the character of the primitive flora; for example, willows, oleander, and Tamarix, with a few palms. The betoum (Pistacia atlantica), which must surely have been an inhabitant of the oasis formerly, is now apparently wholly absent. The species just mentioned are to be found between the town and the pass above; but below the oasis, owing to an apparently poorer water-supply, there are fewer large species. Among those found are a few specimens of Rhus oxyacantha and Zizyphus vulgaris, and it was probably below the town that the betoum was to be found in earlier times.