الفهرس 
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Abstract
The present study provides a detailed description of the floristic features, ecological features and economic potentialities of five wild species namely, Retama raetam, Desmostachya bipinnata, Imperata cylindica, Thymelaea hirsuta and Leptadenia pyrotechnica growing naturally in the Nile Delta region (El-Dakahlia, Kafr El-Sheikh and El-Qaluobya),Wadi Hagoul and Cairo-Suez desert road of Egypt. The present thesis are aiming at throwing more light on the non-conventional plant resources for fiber industry in both coastal and inland parts and to find out the relationships between such vegetation types and surround environmental factors. The total number of the recorded plant species surveyed in the present study was 176 species belonging to 141 genera and related to 35 families. Asteraceae and Poaceae comprises 63 species each (35.79%) of the total recorded plant species, followed by family Fabaceae 14 species (7.96%), then Chenopodiaceae 13 species (7.39%). These four families were the main families and representing collectively about 51.14% of the total number of recorded species in the study area. These recorded species include 83 annuals (47.16%), 3 biennials (1.70%) and 90 perennials (51.14%). The life-forms of the flora of the present study are grouped under six types as follow: therophytes (86 species = 46.49%), geophytes and hemicryptophytes (22 species = 11.89 % each), helophytes (17 species = 9.19 %), chamaephytes (27 species = 14.59 %) and nanophanerophytes (11 species = 5.95 %). The economic potentialities of the five selected species have been studied. Moisture content, dry matter, total ash, crude lipid, crude fiber, total nitrogen, crude protein, total soluble sugar, cellulose, lignin and total carbohydrates have been estimated in the shoot of five studied plants. On the other hand, the macro elements were also determined in all investigated plants. Also, their fiber contents and characteristics have been detected Fiber length showed wide range of variations. Thymelaea hirsuta attained the highest value in length. It varies from 0.52 – 3.15 mm (mean value = 1.55 mm), while the lowest value in length (0.67 -1.56 mm) was attained in Imperata cylindica with mean value 0.69 mm. Fiber width showed little variations, it varies from 5.5 – 9 µm in Desmostachya bipinnata (mean value = 7.45 µm) and from 4.5 – 9 µm in Imperata cylindica and Retama raetam (mean value = 6.90 µm). Optical properties showed that the birefringence of Desmotachya bipinnata fibers (0.03) is relatively higher compared with those of the fibers of other species. The other plant species were 0.012, 0.0015, 0.0013 and 0.0001 in Thymeleae hirsuta, Imperata cylindrica, Retama raetam and Leptadenia pyrotechnica, respectively Such results may insure the potentialities of the naturally growing desert plants as non-conventional crops for fiber production.