It is located on the northwestern slopes of Mount Lebanon, the nature reserve experiences high precipitation and is home to numerous rare and endemic plants.

Twenty-two other species carry names significant to Lebanon, such as Dianthus karami (after Youssef Bey Karam, a 19th-century national figure), and Astragalus ehdenensis (after the village of Ehden).

Species identified in the reserve include Cape hare (Lepus capensis), wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), Eurasian badger (Meles meles), southern white-breasted hedgehog (Erinaceus concolor), Indian porcupine (Histrix indica), Caucasian squirrel (Sciurus anomalus), striped hyena (Hyaena hyanena), least weasel (Mustela nivalis), wildcat (Felis silvestris), gray wolf (Canis lupus), and marbled polecat (Vormela Peregusna).

Four of the identified bird species are globally threatened, five are regionally vulnerable, eighteen face unfavorable conditions in Europe, and fifty-seven are rare in Lebanon.

Species include eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), Bonelli's eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus), blue tit (Parus caeruleus), corn crake (Crex crex), Levant sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes), saker falcon (Falco cherrug), white pelican (Pelecanus onocratalus), black stork (Ciconia nigra), Egyptian vulture (Neophron perenopetrus), European bee-eater (Merops apiaster), sand martin (Riparia riparia), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), common wood-pigeon (Columba polumbus), great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius), barn owl (Tyto alba), and the Syrian woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus).