Contribution to the flora of Saudi Arabia : hail region

الملخص EN

The Hail Region, which comprises diverse ecosystems, presents very interesting aspects for ecological, physiological and phytogeographical studies.

The present paper deals with a detailed floristic account of wild plants present or occurring in the Hail region of Saudi Arabia.

Synoptic analysis of the flora reveals that 338 wild plants belonging to 221 genera spread over 61 families are present in the study area including two species of Pteridophytes and two species of Gymnospenns.

Among the 334 Angiosperm species, dicots constitute 286 species of 186 genera spread over 50 families while monocots constitute 48 species of 33 genera spread over 9 families.

Among the species recorded, 40 species have been collected for the first time from the Hail Region.

Tree species are rare in the entire study area.

Majority of plants in the region belong to the Therophyte group which constitute about 56%.

A number of species from the study area have been identified as either endemic or endangered.

Species such as Anthemis sheilae AGhaloor and TA.

AI-Turki, Arabidopsis erysimoides Hedge and Kit, Astragalus collenettiae Hedge and Podl and Tristan’s chaudharyana II Scholz are endemic-endangered while Echinops glaberrimus DC, E.

hystrichoides Kit Tan, Ochradenus arahicus Chaudhary Hille and A.

G Miller and Zygophyllum propinquum Decne.ssp.migahidii (Hadidi) J.'lbomas and Chaudhary are endemic to Saudi Arabia.

Distribution of various plant community types in relation to landforms is also briefly described.