Trees and Shrubs Prevailing in the Urban Green Spaces of the Gaza City in Palestine

Abstract

Gaza is the main city in the Gaza Strip, having a variety of urban green spaces such as public parks, community gardens, and cemeteries. These urban ecosystems have never been studied for their woody components (trees and shrubs). Accordingly, the current study aims at identifying and recording the woody components of some selected urban green spaces. Three public parks and gardens; namely the Gaza Municipality, Barcelona, and Al-Azhar, were selected to carry out the current study.  Frequent visits, observations, and discussions with stakeholders were carried out during a six-month study (October 2016 – March 2017) to satisfy the purpose of the study. A total number of 50 tree and shrub species belonging to 26 families and 14 orders were identified and recorded. The Gymnosperms included 4 species (8.0%) only, while the Angiosperms were represented by 46 species (92.0%), of which monocots were represented by 4 species (8.0%) and the dicots by 42 species (84.0%). The Fabales was the biggest order and comprised 7 (14.0%) of the recorded species, followed by Lamiales with 6 species (12.0%). The families Apocynaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, and Moraceae were the biggest families and each was represented by 5 species (10.0%). The study recommends the selection of woody species adapted with the local prevailing environmental conditions in order to ensure environmental, ecological, recreational and socio-economical values needed by the Palestinian community in the Gaza Strip.