483 FLORISTIC FEATURES OF THE CANAL etc ...... FLORISTIC FEATURES OF THE CANAL BANK HABITATS, EGYPT Mashaly, I. A.; El-Shahaby, O. A. and El-Ameir, Y. A. Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, Egypt ABSTRACT The present study provides an investigation of the floristic features, including distribution of plant species, life-span, life-form spectra and floristic analysis of the plant life in the canal bank habitats of Egypt. The total number of the recorded plant species surveyed in the study area is 115 species belonging to 90 genera and related to 29 families. These species are classified into three major groups according to their duration (life - span) as follows: 58 perennials, 4 biennials and 53 annuals. The main families are: Gramineae, Compositae, Chenopodiaceae and Cyperaceae. The re- corded species are grouped under five types of life forms as follows: therophytes, cryptophytes (comprising geophytes, helophytes and hydrophytes), hemicryptophytes, chamaephytes and nano- phanerophytes. Out of the recorded species 49 taxa (about 42.61 % of the total number) are Medi- terranean which are either Pluriregional, Biregional or Monoregional. The remaining 58 species (about 50.44 % of the total number) are Cosmopolitan (17.39 %), Pantropical (16.52 %), Palaeotropi- cal (12.17 %) and Neotropical (4.35 %). Key words: Nile region, Wadi El-Natrun, canals, drains, vegetation, life form, chorotype Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2010; Vol. 39, No. 4 : 483-501 into 7 major types: desert vegetation, salt marsh vegetation, mountain vegetation, sand dune vegetation, reed swamp vegetation, fresh- water vegetation and saline water vege- tation (Zahran and Willis, 2009). Reed swamp and the aquatic vegetation types are greatly developed in fresh and brackish water habi- tats in the Nile region (Hassib, 1951). The Nile system of Egypt includes a number of habi- tats formed and/or greatly influenced by the water of the River Nile. These are: the aquatic habitat, the swampy habitat, the canal bank habitat, the cultivated lands, the northern lakes, the artificial lakes and the Nile Islands (Zahran and Willis, 2009). The vegetation analysis of the canals and drains in the Nile region was carried out by INTRODUCTION In Egypt, the River Nile is the primary source of fresh water but in some desert areas underground water is the only source of irri- gation water. The Nile water in Egypt is fed by a network of irrigation and drainage canals over the broad alluvial expanses of the Nile Valley, Nile Delta and Nile Fayium. Khattab (1992) stated that the total length of the irri- gation and drainage systems of Egypt is about 48,000 km, distributed according to the width of the bases of irrigation and drainage canals respectively as follows: 3,260 km and 850 km for > 10 m base width; 2,880 km and 1,440 km for 5-10 m base width and 25,500 km and 14,100 km for < 5 m base width. The vegetation of Egypt may be classified