# Omayed

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**Omayed** (Arabic: العميد) is a 75,800 ha [UNESCO](/source/UNESCO) designated [Biosphere Reserve](/source/Biosphere_Reserve) in western [Egypt](/source/Egypt) in a sparsely populated region of coastal desert 80 kilometers west of [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria) and 200 kilometers east of [Matruh](/source/Matrouh_Governorate). It was designated as a biosphere reserve in 1981 and extended in 1998. The area includes four villages with a total 400 inhabitants. Habitats include coastal [calcareous](/source/Calcareous) dunes, inland ridges, saline depressions, nonsaline depressions and inland plateau.[1] The area provides important moss habitat. The [Khashm El-Aish](/source/Khashm_El-Aish) plateau in Omayed Protected Area (OPA) is home to 29 moss [taxa](/source/Taxa) recorded for the first time from Mediterranean coast, Egypt and 16 of them new records to the western Mediterranean coast. OPA includes 0.07% of Egypt's land mass but is home to more than 17 percent of its moss flora.[2]

Ecosystems:

- Coastal Dunes: *[Ammophila arenaria](/source/Ammophila_arenaria)*, *[Euphorbia paralias](/source/Euphorbia_paralias)* and *[Pancratium maritimum](/source/Pancratium_maritimum)*
- Inland ridges with minimal soil: *[Thymellaea](/source/Thymellaea)* spp., *[Gymnocarpus decadrum](/source/Gymnocarpus_decadrum)*, *[Plantago albicans](/source/Plantago_albicans)* and *[Asphodelus microcarpa](/source/Asphodelus_microcarpa)*
- Salty marsh depressions dominated by *[Salicornia fruticosa](/source/Salicornia_fruticosa)*, *[Cressa cretica](/source/Cressa_cretica)*, *[Atriplex halimus](/source/Atriplex_halimus)*
- Non-saline depressions and inland plateau: *[Artemisia monosperma](/source/Artemisia_monosperma)*, *[Hammada elegans](/source/Hammada_elegans)*, *[Anabasis articulata](/source/Anabasis_articulata)*, *[Hammada scorpia](/source/Hammada_scorpia)*, *[Suaeda pruinosa](/source/Suaeda_pruinosa)*, *[Salsola tetrandra](/source/Salsola_tetrandra)*
- Agricultural areas of grazing land and [fig](/source/Ficus) plantations[1]

## See also

- [World Network of Biosphere Reserves in the Arab States](/source/World_Network_of_Biosphere_Reserves_in_the_Arab_States)

## References

1. [Omayed Biosphere Reserve](http://www.unesco.org/science/doc/mab/Egypt.pdf) UNESCO

1. [Mosses of the Egyptian Conservation Areas: II. Omayed Protected Area](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.7872/cryb.v34.iss1.2013.61?journalCode=cryb) Wagieh El-Saadawia,*, Hanaa M. Shabbara & aSahar I. A. El-Sakatya a Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt

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