Editing Natural history of Africa (section)

==Flora==
The [[vegetation]] of [[Africa]] follows very closely the distribution of heat and moisture. The northern and southern temperate zones have a [[flora]] distinct from that of the continent generally, which is tropical. In the countries bordering the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], there are groves of [[orange (fruit)|orange]] and [[olive]] trees, evergreen [[oak]]s, [[cork oak|cork]] trees and [[pine]]s, intermixed with [[cupressus|cypresses]], [[Myrtus|myrtles]], [[arbutus]] and fragrant [[Erica (plant)|tree-heaths]].<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Africa |volume=1 |page=323 |inline=1 |first1=Edward |last1=Heawood |first2=Frank Richardson |last2=Cana}}</ref>

South of the [[Atlas Mountains]], the conditions alter.  The zones of minimum rainfall have a very scanty flora, consisting of plants adapted to resist the great dryness.  Characteristic of the [[Sahara]] is the [[date palm]], which flourishes where other vegetation can scarcely maintain existence, while in the semidesert regions the [[acacia]], from which gum arabic is obtained, is abundant.<ref name=EB1911/>

The more humid regions have a richer vegetation; dense forest where the rainfall is greatest and variations of temperature least, conditions found chiefly on the tropical coasts, and in the west African equatorial basin with its extension towards the upper [[Nile]]; and [[savanna]] interspersed with trees on the greater part of the plateaus, passing as the desert regions are approached into a scrub vegetation consisting of [[Thorny acacia|thorny acacias]], etc. Forests also occur on the humid slopes of mountain ranges up to a certain elevation. In the coast regions, the typical tree is the [[mangrove]], which flourishes wherever the soil is of a [[swamp]] character.<ref name=EB1911/>

The dense [[forest]]s of [[West Africa]] contain, in addition to a great variety of [[hardwood]]s, two [[Arecaceae|palms]], ''[[Elaeis guineensis]]'' (oil palm) and ''[[Raphia vinifera]]'' (bamboo palm), not found, generally speaking, in the savanna regions. ''[[Bombax]]'' or silk cotton trees attain gigantic proportions in the forests, which are the home of the India rubber-producing plants and of many valuable kinds of timber trees, such as odum (''[[Chlorophora excelsa]]''), [[ebony]], [[mahogany]] (''[[Khaya senegalensis]]''), ''[[Oldfieldia]]'' (''[[Oldfieldia africana]]'') and [[camwood]] (''Baphia nitida''). The climbing plants in the tropical forests are exceedingly luxuriant and the undergrowth or "bush" is extremely dense.<ref name=EB1911/>
[[File:Africa Natural Vegetation.jpg|thumb|A map of Africa's vegetation variation.]]
In the savannas the most characteristic trees are the monkey-bread tree or baobab (''[[Adansonia digitata]]''), [[Hyphaene thebaica|doum palm]] (''Hyphaene'') and [[euphorbia]]s. The [[coffee plant]] grows wild in such widely separated places as [[Liberia]] and southern [[Ethiopia]]. The higher mountains have a special flora showing close agreement over wide intervals of space, as well as affinities with the mountain flora of the eastern [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]], the [[Himalaya]] and [[Indo-China]].<ref name=EB1911/>

In the swamp regions of north-east Africa, [[papyrus]] and associated plants, including the soft-wooded [[ambach]], flourished in immense quantities, and little else is found in the way of vegetation. South Africa is largely destitute of forest, save in the lower valleys and coast regions. Tropical flora disappears, and in the semi-desert plains the fleshy, leafless, contorted species of kapsias, [[mesembryanthemum]]s, [[aloe]]s and other succulent plants make their appearance. There are, too, valuable timber trees, such as the [[Podocarpus|yellowwood]] (''[[Podocarpus elongatus]]''), [[stinkwood]] (''[[Ocotea]]''), [[sneezewood]] or [[Cape ebony]] (''Pteroxylon utile'') and ironwood. Extensive miniature woods of heaths are found in almost endless variety and covered throughout the greater part of the year with innumerable blossoms in which red is very prevalent. Of the grasses of Africa, alfa is very abundant in the plateaus of the Atlas range.<ref name=EB1911/>