الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 113 |  |  |
| | | from | 113 | | |
Abstract
The present work provides a comparative study for the floristic and ecological features of Echinops spinosissimus and its associated species in two habitats: the coastal desert and inland desert of Egypt as well as an evaluation of its phytochemical profile and biological activity. The target E. spinosissimus and its associated plant species included 108 species from 89 genera and related to 30 families. Asteraceae, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Brassicaceae, Boraginaceae, Polygonaceae and Zygophyllaceae were the largest families which contributed together about 61% of the total number of recorded species in the study area. The floristic categories revealed that, biregional elements were attained the highest contribution by 40.75% (44 species) of the total number of recorded species, followed by monoregional elements (37 species= 34.26%), and pluriregional elements (17 species= 15.74%). Seventy species were Saharo-Sindian, 55 species were Mediterranean taxa and 10 species were worldwide. The phytochemical analysis including primary constituents, secondary active constituents and antioxidant activity revealed that E. spinosissimus collected from the coastal desert habitat attained the highest values of water content, ash, crude fibers, proteins, crude lipids, Na, Ca, phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids and antioxidant activity, while E. spinosissimus from the inland desert habitat showed the highest values of total carbohydrates, potassium, magnesium and tannins.