Vascular Plants Colonization of the Historical Old Medina of Safi, Morocco

The Almohads built the ketchla (old medina of current Safi, Morocco) in the 12th century. In the late of 15th and early 16th centuries, the Portuguese colonized the city of Safi and other coastal towns like El Jadida and Azemmour on their way to India. The historic monuments of the old medina thus left are now deteriorating due to important factors such as vascular plants. The objective of this study is then to establish a list of plant species growing on the walls and bastions of the old medina of Safi, and to analyse their potential effects on the deterioration of the historic monuments. Therefore, we carried out a systematic sampling in the study area. And 52 species belonging to 25 families were identified: Asteraceae (11 species), Amaranthaceae (4 species), Poaceae (4 species), Aizoaceae (3 species) and Solanaceae (3 species). The most common life forms were therophytes and hemicryptophytes, followed by geophytes, chamaephytes and phanerophytes. This vascular plants have a pivoting or fasciculated root system that stress or destroy the walls and bastions heavily over time by cracks or fissures. The study’s findings have implications for the conservation of the historic monuments of the old medina of Safi.