A superficial view of the plain (hamada) which lies both to the north and to the south of the M’Zab Valley does not suggest any vegetation whatever, at least during the dry season. The desert is quite as barren in appearance, as, for example, portions of the Libyan Desert are in reality. In every direction one sees grayish-brown stones and bowlders, with little earth, and in some places blackened stones, blackened by “fires from heaven” the Arabs believe, but nothing to indicate the presence of plants. Tristram has described the plain as “one mass of naked rock, rough stone, and coarse débris, from the neighboring mountain, but without a scrap of earth or a vestige of the minutest vegetation.” But close study of the plain makes out a better case than this; in fact, where the soil has accumulated in pockets, where there is a slight drainage depression, or where spaces between the rocks are filled with soil, careful examination shows the remains of annuals and not a few living perennials; but like other intense deserts, plants, even when relatively numerous, are not present in sufficient numbers and not of sufficient size to give character to the landscape or to hide the surface of the ground. The plain on both sides of the valley was studied and a few areas carefully examined with results which are summarized in the following paragraphs. It has already been mentioned that the walls of the M’Zab Valley at Ghardaia are precipitous, rising between 60 and 100 meters from the valley floor, their summits being the general level of the plain. Both to the north and to the south of the valley there are short but steep tributary gulches. In these gulches, and especially at the heads of the gulches, are pockets filled with earth, and here may be found some perennial vegetation. For example, at the head of such a ravine, 3 kilometers north of the valley, 10 undetermined living species were found, of which 6 were perennials and the balance were long-lived annuals or biennials. (See fig. 20.) In an analogous situation, but on the plain to the south of the valley, the aspect being similar, a larger number of plants were found, including, among other species, _Aristida_ sp., _Centaurea pubescens_, _Deverra scoparia_, _Fagonia bruguieri_, _Peganum harmala_, and _Teucrium pseudo-chamæpitys_. A census of plants was taken, where the individuals were most numerous, with the following result: On an area 16 by 16 meters there were 330 living specimens. The three dominant species were _Aristida_ sp., _Deverra scoparia_, and _Helianthemum sessiliflorum_.