*3.1. Plant Materials Collection and Preparation*

The above-ground parts of *P. dioscoridis* and *E. bonariensis*, were collected from two populations along the Cairo–Alexandria desert road, Egypt in November 2019. From each population, the healthy and fresh plant samples were clipped from three individuals and pooled as composite samples (two per each plant; *P. dioscoridis* and *E. bonariensis*). The two plants were authenticated according to Tackholm [58] and Boulos [25]. Voucher specimens (CZ-D-x908-019 & CZ-L-x909-019) have been deposited in the herbarium of the National Research Center, Egypt. The above-ground parts were dried in the shade, ground into a fine powder, and packed in paper bags till further analysis [13].
