T h i s book represents a unique blend of the geological, geographical, climatic, and ecological features of Egypt's topography and its natural vegetation. Students, researchers and other professionals who are interested in the fields of plant ecology, agronomy, and other branches of the plant sciences could benefit greatly from the richness of the information contained in the 424 pages of this book. It deals in detail with the biogeography and climatology of both the arid and the Mediterranean regions of Egypt and thus could serve, as well, as a major and invaluable source of information for those interested in these fields. It is indeed a true addition to the collections in science libraries.

The delta section of the Mediterranean coast of Egypt can be divided ecologically into four main habitats: salt marsh, sand formation, reed swamp and fertile noncultivated land. In each habitat vegetation types can be distinguished based on the dominance of single species. The salt marsh habitat comprises five such communities dominated by: Zygophyllum aegyptium, Inula crithmoides, Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, Juncus acutus and Halocnemum strobilaceum. The vegetation of the sand formation includes 11 communities dominated by: Elymus farctus ssp. farctus, Alhagi graecorum, Cynodon dactylon, Heliotropium curassavicum, Stipagrostis lanata, Thymelaea hirsuta, Moltkiopsis ciliata, Asparagus stipularis and Pancratium maritimum (sand dunes), Cressa cretica and Phragmites australis (sand flats). The reed swamp habitat is dominated by Typha domingensis. In the fertile non-cultivated land Alhagi graecorum, Cynodon dactylon and Heliotropium curassavicum are the dominants.Quantitative cluster analysis revealed a lower number of clusters than there are dominance types, but on the whole the two systems are similar.Ordination and subsequent analysis of correlation between vegetation gradients and soil factors showed that the decisive soil factors for the variation in salt marsh vegetation are moisture availability and CaCO 3 content, and for the sand formation soil moisture, -fertility andsalinity.

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