Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University -Faculty of Science - Department of Botany Microbiology

relatives has become an issue of global concern. In Egypt, genus Cordia L. includes a potential wild threatened woody species (C. sinensis Lam.) in its wild habitats, and numerous cultivated species. This study was carried out to identify these cultivated Cordia species and construct the genetic relationships with the Egyptian wild threatened species. This taxonomic revision revealed that: genus Cordia is represented in Egypt by nine species: one wild species (C. sinensis Lam.), restricted to Gebel Elba, two species were cultivated decades ago, now extinct from nature and identified in herbarium specimens, and the remaining six now cultivated as ornamental trees. Taxonomic-key for the studied species was constructed based on macro-morphological characters. While the studied micro-morphological characters revealed that: glandular trichomes are observed in only two species, while eglandular trichomes are predominant in all the studied species. Different stomatal characters were examined including: shape, size, rims, stomatal level, aperture, cuticular deposition and wax ornamentation. The retrieved results showed a great variation among the studied species. The observed trichomes and stomata were used to construct two taxonomic keys. ISSR fingerprinting was carried out to elucidate the inter-specific genetic relationship between the studied wild and its cultivated relatives. The results of the ISSR revealed the presence of genetic affinity between the wild Cordia and cultivated species, which enhance the future breeding programs to conserve their potential species. Finally the ethno botanical overview of these species was carried out to trace their presence in Egypt from Pre-dynastic to the recent time

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