Saint Katherine Protectorate (SKP) hosts 24% of Egyptian Silene species including the endemic ones. This study investigated five Silene species representing 17% of all Egyptian Silene; three of them are endemic to Egypt (S. oreosinaica, S. leucophylla, and S. schimperiana). S. schimperiana was widely distributed in different areas in SKP, whereas S. oreosinaica was very rare and was spotted as two or three populations restricted to one habitat. Moreover, S. oreosinaica has not been recorded before this study since 1983. Phylogenies based on pollen micromorphology as well as on molecular data were constructed in order to describe the evolutionary relationship among these species leading to their distribution. Although phylogeny based on the pollen grain characteristics was resulted in the separation of Silene species into two groups, the first one included S. odontopetala subsp. congesta Boiss and S. oreosinaica with sub-clade included S. schimperiana and the second group included S. linearis and S. leucophylla, there was no obvious relationship among these species in the light of their distribution. Neighbor-joining (NJ) and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) phylogenies showed that Silene species were divided into three clades; the first one included S. oreosinaica and S. odontopetala, which were closely related; the second one included S. schimperiana and S. linearis; and the last clade had S. leucophylla. According to NJ phylogeny and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), S. schimperiana has recent, evolutionary characters that could make it distantly related to the other species, suggesting that its wide distribution could be attributed to the adaptation of its genetic constitute to different conditions.

中文翻译：

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遗传多样性对埃及西奈半岛圣凯瑟琳保护地石竹属 (Caryophyllaceae) 特有种分布的影响

圣凯瑟琳保护国 (SKP) 拥有 24% 的埃及 Silene 物种，包括地方性物种。本研究调查了五种 Silene 物种，占埃及所有 Silene 的 17%；其中三个是埃及特有的（S. oreosinaica、S. leucophylla 和 S. schimperiana）。S. schimperiana 广泛分布于SKP 的不同地区，而S. oreosinaica 则非常罕见，被发现为仅限于一个栖息地的两个或三个种群。此外，自 1983 年以来，在这项研究之前就没有记录到 S. oreosinaica。构建了基于花粉微形态学和分子数据的系统发育，以描述这些物种之间导致它们分布的进化关系。尽管基于花粉粒特征的系统发育导致 Silene 物种分为两组，第一个包括 S. odontopetala subsp。congesta Boiss 和 S. oreosinaica 的亚分支包括 S. schimperiana，第二组包括 S. linearis 和 S. leucophylla，从分布上看，这些物种之间没有明显的关系。邻居连接法（NJ）和算术平均法（UPGMA）系统发育的未加权配对组法表明，Silene物种分为三个进化枝；第一个包括 S. oreosinaica 和 S. odontopetala，它们是密切相关的；第二个包括 S. schimperiana 和 S. linearis；最后一个进化枝有 S. leucophylla。根据 NJ 系统发育和主坐标分析 (PCoA)，S. schimperiana 具有最近的进化特征，可以使其与其他物种有远亲关系，