The vegetation: an extraordinary diversity.

Abstract

The Malagasy flora is highly endemic: 12 000 species of flowering plants with 85% confined to Madagascar; 6 or 7 endemic families out of 180; and about a quarter of the 1600 genera endemic. The vegetation of each distinct region is described: the impoverished flora of the grasslands of the central highlands; 'tapia' woods and natural rock gardens of the western slopes of the highlands (fire-swept savanna with small forest relicts); heaths, lichen woodlands and moss forest of the mountain massifs; savannas and dry forests of the west (characterised by baobabs Adansonia species and other 'bottle trees'); the southern bush (with 48% of genera and 95% of the species endemics); luxuriant rain forests in the east; and coastal vegetation. -P.J.Jarvis