Contribution to the Flora of Egypt: A critical inventory of newly recorded vascular taxa of Egypt

Abstract

The current study is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive inventory of all newly recorded vascular plant taxa which were collected from Egypt after Boulos’ Checklist 2009. The study was compiled by gathering several information sources such as relevant taxonomic publications, accessible online database, herbaria collections and field observations. The present study records 441 species and infraspecific taxa (309 species, 72 subspecies and 60 varieties) belonging to 83 families and 275 genera, representing 66 Monocots and 375 Eudicots. The study revealed the addition of five species viz. Ficus religiosa , F . elastica, Vigna vexillata, Sagittaria sagittifolia and carpobrous edulis ; as well as nine families not previously recorded in the flora of Egypt. Amongst the taxa recorded,22 endemics in ten families and 23 near endemics in 15 families. The inventory of newly recorded taxa made in the present study confirms that the Egyptian flora requires significant updating, and this study might be regarded as a supplementary to Boulos’ Flora of Egypt Checklist (2009), the authors also believe that the present checklist has filled the gaps existing in the data at the sub-regional administrative scale.