Included here is the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula including Oman and the eastermost parts of the United Arab Emirates.

Omanian Halophytic (Salt-Tolerant) Vegetation

This includes vegetation of saline plains, saltpans and sabkhas, but not coastal saltmarsh. However, a number of inland halophytic assemblages overlap with the less saline coastal habitats forming mosaics of in which both inland and coastal halophytes occur. Inland stands are often dominated by Suaeda fruticosa, whereas on the Barr al Hikman Peninsula the large sabkha is dominated by Atriplex farinosa and the endemic Suaeda moschata (Chenopodiaceae), but these are replaced by monospecific stands of Arthrocnemum macrostachys where loamy soils predominated. Saltpans, on the other hand, are typically fringed with Halopeplis.

References

Cope, T. A. 1988. The Flora of the Sands. Journal of Oman Studies, No. 3: 305-312.

Fisher, M., Ghazanfar, S. A. & Spalton, A. 1999. The Natural History of Oman. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.

Ghazanfar, S. A. 1999. Coastal vegetation of Oman. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 49: 21-27.

Ghazanfar, S. A. 2004. Biology of the Central Desert of Oman. Turkish Journal of Botany, 28: 65-71.

Ghazanfar, S. A. & Fisher, M. 1998. Vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Ghazanfar, S. A. 2006. Saline and alkaline vegetation of NE Africa and the Arabian Peninsula: an overview. In: Biosaline Agriculture and Salinity Tolerance in Plants. Eds. M. Öztürk, Y. Waisel, M. A. Khan and G. Görk. Birkhäuser Verlag, Switzerland.

Miller, A. G. & Nyberg, J. A. 1991. Patterns of endemism in Arabia. Flora et Vegetatio Mundi, 9: 263-279.

Radcliffe-Smith, A. 1980. The vegetation of Dhofar. Journal of Oman Studies, Special Report No. 2: 59-86.

Zohary, M., Heyn, C. C. & Heller, D. 1980. Conspectus Florae Orientalis. The Israel Academy of Science and Humanities. Jerusalem.