Abstract
Nitraria retusa is one of the leading shrubs in steppes, deserts and salines forming almost pure stands on the periphery of marshes and occurs mainly in inland salines, but sometimes reaches the sea shore (e.g. Egypt). It is definitely Saharo-Arabian with some trends towards Sudanian territories. Its distribution in Egypt includes the Nile region, oases of the western desert, the Mediterranean and Red Sea coastal strips, eastern and western deserts and Sinai. The phytochemical investigation of this plant reveals the presence of carbohydrates and/or glycosides, reducing sugars, tannins, saponins, sterols, alkaloids, flavonoids, sulphates and chlorides. Thirteen free amino acids and four unsaturated fatty acids were also detected. Nitraria retusa is an indicator of shallow water table, sand controller, palatable to grazing animals, phytoremidator of polluted soil, used as fuel and its fruits are edible by birds and local inhabitants. The effective flowering process occurs during two periods: March-May and October-December. This salt tolerant bush has considerable tolerance for drought due to deep and well developed root system, and has the ability to form huge phytogenic mounds which conserve considerable moisture in its body. The maximum seed germination of this plant was 35%, thus further studies are recommended to explore the reasons of this dormancy. Its size structure along the Egyptian Red Sea coast is characterized by the preponderance of the young individuals comparing with the old ones.
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