Cairo University updates Egypt's vascular flora after 15 years

The Faculty of Science at Cairo University has released an updated, annotated checklist of Egypt's vascular plant species, the first comprehensive revision in more than fifteen years. The study, titled “An Annotated Checklist for the Egyptian Vascular Flora”, was published in the Q2 journal Plant Biosystems (Springer Nature). It documents 2,491 vascular plant taxa, representing 800 genera and 119 families, and includes the addition of a new family to the Egyptian flora. The checklist records 27 genera and 182 species for the first time in national references, corrects hundreds of names, and excludes 62 species found not to belong to Egypt’s flora. It also identifies 74 species endemic to Egypt and 210 near‑endemic species shared with neighboring countries, while highlighting the Sinai Peninsula as the richest region for plant diversity.

The research was led by Dr. Reem Samir Hamdi and Dr. Rania Ali Hassan, with assistance from an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Microbiology. Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Soheir Ramadan Fahmy, said the work provides a vital national reference to support biodiversity conservation, protection of rare and threatened species, environmental studies, and sustainable development planning in Egypt.