Collecting Rare Conifers in North Africa
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Collecting Rare Conifers in North Africa ’ Robert G. Nicholson Conifer seeds gathered on mountain peaks in Morocco may yield varieties more cold-hardy than those now in cultivation As the cold came on, and as each more southern zone became fitted for the inhabitants of the north, these would take the places of the former inhabitants of the temperate regions. The latter, at the same time, would travel further and further southward, unless they were stopped by barners, m which case they would pensh. The mountams would become covered with snow and ice and them former Alpine inhabitants would descend to the plams. By the time that the cold had reached its maximum, we should have an arctic fauna and flora, covering the central parts of Europe, as far south as the Alps and Pyrenees, and even stretching mto Spam. -Charles Darwm The Origin of Species Had the master biologist, Charles Darwin, collecting focussed on the native conifers, travelled in North Africa, he might have which are poorly represented in botanical amended his discourse on glaciation to include gardens. It was important that I collect the those lands south of the Pyrenees and Spain. seeds from as high an elevation as possible to For in Morocco and Algeria a number of ensure that the resulting seedlings would be peaks are high enough to have harbored an of maximum hardiness. This meant exten- alpine flora that was spreading from Europe sive travelling and walking, since the isolated during the periods of glaciation. And upon peaks stand far from the major cities and these mountains there live today relict popu- stretch high above the nearest villages. lations of these refugees, remnants of the The first day’s collecting was done in the same migrating temperate and alpine floras Atlas Mountains, just south of Marrakech. that Darwin so eloquently described. Here, the massive Jebel Toubkal rises to Most people are surprised to learn that 4,165 meters, making it the highest peak in these relict populations mclude among their northwestern Africa. It is a rocky, dry, and members such familiar moist-temperate steep mountain that, despite its cold tem- ’ genera as Acer, Lonicera, Paeonia, Rosa, Sor- perature regimen, had little to offer in the bus, and Viburnum. The order Comferae is way of a temperate flora. Most woody species also well represented: species of Abies, Ced- had tapered off by 2,300 meters, and the rus, Juniperus, and Pinus are also found in upper reaches of the peak offered just a few the colder areas of Morocco grasses, thistles, and fall-blooming crocus. In September 1982 I travelled to Morocco Juniperus thurifera, the incense juniper, was to collect seeds and specimens of its hardiest plentiful in the foothills, as were two roses, plants. The resulting seedlings I would test Rosa sicula and Rosa canina. The latter grew in the nurseries of the Arnold Arboretum. I among some boulders, was of fine habit, and collected on four peaks in the two major possessed a large orange hip. Its seeds ger- mountain ranges, the Atlas and the Rif. My minated readily at the Arboretum’s Dana 21 Greenhouses and should provide some inter- softly bouncing in the incoming evening fog, esting hardiness testing m our nurseries. and after the jarring bus ride their gentle From the Atlas region I proceeded by train beauty provided a soothing welcome. I did to the ancient capital of Fez, a major city just not know at the time that Ketama is a town south of the Rif mountain chain. Because noted for, and supported by, its illicit drug delegates to a Pan-Arabian Summit Confer- trade, being a distribution center for kif, a ence had flooded the hotels, I had to move on local cannabis product. Any Westerner is immediately from this exotic and quintes- immediately assumed to be there "for busi- sential Moroccan city. ness," and convincing people otherwise- "Plants? ! "-can be both bothersome and at times. The Atlas Cedar amusmg An enterprising young Berber, Mou- A five-hour bus ride along the switchbacks hammed Boudgara, rode up to me on a of the Rif Mountains brought me to the vil- motorcycle before I was twelve steps off the lage of Ketama. It is beautifully situated in bus. He gave me the standard greeting, "Hel- an extensive grove of Cedrus atlantica, the lo my friend, you need a guide?" Knowing Atlas cedar. The boughs of these giants were how useful a motorcycle would be for getting into the mountains, I struck a deal with him for the next day’s collectmg. Mouhammed was to be one of the lucky breaks that occur when plant-collecting in odd corners. He warned off the local toughs, helped find sup- plies, and eased passage through otherwise precarious areas. The next day, after Mouhammed had proudly showed me his ki harvest, we left the village and sped off on motorcycles to the foothills of Mt. Tidiquin, some ten miles away. I was a passenger on the back of a sec- ond motorcycle driven by Mouhammed’s cousin, a young man who seemed intent on showing his skill at high-speed driving on dirt roads. At one point we paused to take in a good view of the nearing mountain. It was a gentle, tapered cone, rising to 2,455 meters, its flanks covered with the flat blue-green color of Cedrus atlantica. We parked our motorcycles at a farming village in the foot- hills and, after my guides had renewed old acquaintances, walked upward. The gentle incline seen from five miles off was in reality quite steep, and the forest now rose a hundred feet over our heads. It was a thm forest with little undergrowth, and the Cedrus was the of size. Full-sized Cedrus atlantica on Mount Tidiqum, near Ketama, only species any specimens Morocco All photographs are the author’s. grew up to 120 feet in height at these lower 22 elevations. A crude dirt road allowed for below. I busied myself collecting seeds and some limited forestry. pressing specimens, while my guides had a Cedrus atlantica has a long history of cul- ki break in the shade of a small cedar. As tivation, having been introduced into culti- the number of different specimens was small, vation by A. Seneclauze in 1839, while G. a complete representation of the summit Manetti rendered the first description in flora was soon in hand. Like many moun- 1844. It has long been a favorite ornamental tains in Morocco, this peak showed the in Europe, with about a dozen cultivars now effects of goat herding. Many of the plants being used. It has also found favor with had been chewed almost to the ground, and French foresters, some extensive plantations I suspect that some species had been erased of it having been established on the poorest completely. soils of Dijon and Vaucluse. On the trip down the mountainside, I In the northeastern United States, Cedrus found a fine plant of Digitalis purpurea var. atlantica, like Cedrus deodara, could hardly mauretanica and took a good amount of be called ironclad hardy. Even the variety seed. Rosa sicula appeared in the understory glauca, which seems to be the hardiest cul- of the cedar forest, and I collected seeds from tivar of the Atlas cedar, tends to brown some it, too. or even to drop most of its needles in the At the farm village, a Berber wedding was coldest winters. I had hoped, then, by col- in full swing as we slipped back through the lecting seed from an area of maximum har- streets and alleys. A truckload of master diness, that a hardier race of Cedrus atlan- musicians was blending the unique shrill of tica could be introduced to the Boston area. their olive-wood pipes with the rapid toom- It is on Mt. Tidiquin that the Atlas cedar toom of the skin drums, while the towns- reaches the uppermost limit of its range and people, dressed in their finest colors, fol- inhabits the craggy summit in a gnarled, lowed these pipers through the village streets. stunted form evocative of the bristlecone After a quick look at the proceedings we pine in this country. At the summit, one side pushed our motorcycles to the outskirts and of the mountain presented a clear aspect, a were off. rock field bare of topsoil and trees, with just Next morning, after farewells to my guides, a few ground-hugging plants nestled among I boarded an aged bus headed west. The ride’s the stones. The opposite side of the summit unfortunate highlight was a police roadblock was a sheer cliff, a few struggling cedars and subsequent search. Searched, along with locked into its side. The view from the peak a half dozen others, I was luckily able to gave one a stunning 360-degree panorama of explain a bagful of plant material in rapid the central Rif chain, a sinuous and involved pigdin French. Another passenger, however, series of mountains, very rugged and not was found with a small chunk of kif. He was unlike the mountains of central Idaho and led away in handcuffs, while his wife could northern California in its limited accessibil- only sit silently by. The example having been ity. set, we were allowed to pass, and an hour All of the Cedrus I saw in the uppermost later I was let off on the roadside. Looking up 75 meters were barren of cones, so I assume into the foothills, I saw the starched white that either the coning is erratic in the upper city of Chechaouen.