Floristic perspective for some medicinal plants growing in the coastal and inland deserts of egypt

This study aimed at characterizing the floristic features of plant species associated with four wild medicinal plants in the Egyptian deserts. Two plants were chosen from the inland north part of the Eastern desert (Wadi Hagul and Wadi El-Molak) namely Pulicaria undulata (L.) C. A. Mey. and Hyoscyamus muticus L., and the two other species were selected from the coastal desert along the Deltaic Mediterranean Sea coast namely Calligonum polygonoides L. subsp. comosum and Nicotiana glauca R.C. Graham. A total of 125 plant species belonging to 107 genera and 29 families were recorded. Asteraceae, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Brassicaceae were the leading families which represented by 55.2% of the total number of recorded species. Preponderance of perennials, therophytes and Saharo-Sindian/ Mediterranean taxa indicating the semi-arid and arid climateof the study area. Four vegetation groups or community types were yielded after TWINSPAN and named after the first dominant species. Group A: Zygophyllum coccineum, group B: Pulicaria undulata, group C: Calligonum polygonoides and group D: Nicotiana glauca. Z. coccineum community dominated Wadi Hagul bed. P. undulata community occupied Wadi El-Molak bed. C. polygonoides community dominated the roadside and sand formation habitats. Furthermore, N. glauca community inhabited roadside of the coastal desert. In addition, these communities were apparently segregated along DCA-axes.