The Oriental High Atlas National Park (Morocco) consists of very uneven mountainous massifs with heights ranging from 1600m to more than 3000m. The vascular flora of this National Park, considered as an Important Plant Area (IPA), counts more than 300 taxa and endemics count about 46 species, 8 subspecies and 12 varieties.

In the High Atlas numerous knowledge generating programs about endemic flora are taking place. However, given the site’s size and the stakes in terms of preservation of flora and habitats, knowledge acquisition must constantly be strengthened. Thus, a partnership between IUCN-Med and the Fondation Biotope was created. Its objectives are to strengthen knowledge acquisition efforts while ensuring current actions’ complementarity in this domain on that sector.

In the abovementioned framework, a field mission focusing mainly on wetlands and high altitude, where the endemic or rare species rate is the highest, took place in the High Atlas.

These prospections enabled scientists to confirm the presence or find new locations of about fifteen species amongst the ones that were searched for within the National Park. Some of them seemed to be known only in Jbel Bou Naceur, in the Middle Atlas. The alternation between sedimentary and magmatic rocks enabled a diversified flora to develop despite an omnipresent overgrazing. Consultations and bibliographic research will help improve the knowledge of these species and reevaluate them on the basis of the discoveries made during this mission.

Pictures:

1. The field team, apparently absorbed in a discovery
2. Jbel Hayim, localed in the central part of the study zone
3. Carum lacuum, an endemic species of High Atlas, very rare