Included here is a zone mostly between 500-700 km wide extending from the Sudan-Ethiopian border westwards to the Atlantic coast of Senegal. In the north it includes the very dry Nubian Desert.

Sudanian Semi-Desert Scrub

The main scrub species found in the arid areas include Acacia tortilis subsp. tortilis, Leptadenia pyrotechnica and Salvadora persica on the lithosols, whereas on the clay soils Acacia mellifera, Balanites aegyptiaca, Capparis decidua and Ziziphus spina-christi are the main species. Rocky outcrops such as the inselbergs on the Jos Plateau and the sandstone of western Mali support different assemblages of species that can be broadly desribed as rupicolous scrub. The sandstones, for example, support a stunted Guibourtia copalifera community with associated species such as Boscia salicifolia, Combretum collinum, Ficus lecardii, Gardenia sokotensis, Hexalobus monopetalus, Spondias mombin, Zanha golungensis and the endemic Bombax costatum (Malvaceae) and Euphorbia sudanica (Euphorbiaceae).

References

Ayyad, M. A. & Ghabbour, S. I. 1986. Egypt and Sudan. In: Ecosystems of the World 12B - Hot Deserts and Arid Shrubland. B. Eds. M. Evenari, I. Noy-Meir and D. W. Goodall. Elsevier.

Boughey, A. S. 1957. Ecological studies of tropical coastlines I. The Gold Coast, West Africa. Journal of Ecology, 45: 665-687.

White, F. 1983. The Vegetation of Africa. UNESCO.