A new record of generic vascular plant for the flora of Saudi Arabia: Aspilia kotschyi (Asteraceae)

Abstract

The paper presents Aspilia kotschyi (Sch.Bip. ex Hochst.) Oliv. (Asteraceae), a newly recorded genus of vascular plants, during the fieldwork in Fayfa region in the Southwest of Saudi Arabia. Flora books and scientific research papers dealing with the flora of Saudi Arabia have not mentioned any species of Aspilia genus. The taxon was found for the first time in Saudi Arabia, which makes a new addition and significant contribution to the flora of Saudi Arabia. The plant was seen near cultivated terraces and collected in September and October 2020 from Fayfa mountains, Jazan province, Southwest of Saudi Arabia. Morphological description, taxonomic remarks, distribution map, plant illustration, and plant photographs are provided.

New plant records for the flora of Saudi Arabia

“…Recently, new plant records have been documented in the Saudi flora, and the number of these plants is estimated to be 17 new records and five new taxa (Fayed & Alzahrani 2007;Thomas et al 2014;El-Shaboury et al 2018;Basahi & Masrahi 2019;Alzahrani et al 2022;Al-Khulaidi et al 2021;Al-Robai et al 2022;Al-Khulaidi et al 2023). The number of new records is relatively low compared to the number of new taxa discovered in Africa.…”