The Wadi Jawrah Mimusops Garden

The Wadi Jawrah Mimusops Garden is a new botanic garden which is under construction on a 25ha site in Jizan province, southern Saudi Arabia. The garden is being established around a stand of 14 Mimusops laurifolia (Forssk) Friis trees, the second largest stand of this species in the Arabian Peninsula. The major objectives of this garden are to conserve these trees, recreate the rare valley forest habitat of which they are characteristic, establish a nursery for the propagation and ecological restoration of rare species, and to provide a valuable resource for conservation education in the region. This paper covers these aims, the conservation importance of M. laurifolia and valley forest and some challenges and recommendations for the new garden.