Plant diversity and landforms of Mousa’s Mountain in Southern Sinai, Egypt

Mousa Mountain is a sacred, towering peak in Egypt's southern Sinai Peninsula that rises to around 2,285 meters. It is characterized by its rocky topography and arid environment. The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate the main plant species and vegetation structure, as well as to identify the endemics, and rare species, and identify the most significant ecological factors impacting the vegetation and threatening the species on this mountain. Ten main stands are in Mousa Mountain's five major regions. Different parameters were measured for each stand: elevation slope degree, exposure degree, and landform type. The nature of the soil surface has been described. Soil samples were obtained to conduct quantitative physical and chemical investigations. About 114 species were collected from this location, belonging to approximately 31 families. The families with the highest representation were Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Lamiaceae. The Mousa Mountain is home to six highly endangered species, divided into four families: Caryophyllaceae, Lamiaceae, Polygalaceae, and Dipsacaceae. Fifteen species are categorized as endangered, with the majority belonging to the families Adiantaceae, Polygonaceae, Rosaceae, Rubiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Solanaceae, Zygophyllaceae, and Lamiaceae. There are eight species marked as endemic, belonging to the families Lamiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Papaveraceae, Fabaceae and Polygalaceae. It is evident that therophytes and chamaephytes are the dominant life forms, forming more than 70% of species structure. The gorges were the most diversified landform with the least coefficient of variation, and the least diversified landform was the Farsh with the highest coefficient of variation.