Supplementary materials for the Israel Journal of Plant Sciences: <b>Molecular and taxonomical study of the genus </b><b><i>Chara</i></b><b> (Linnaeus 1753) in Israel</b>

<p dir="ltr">Israel’s climate is characterized by hot and dry summers and cool, rainy winters in the northern and coastal regions, whereas the southern and eastern regions are arid. The aquatic macrophyte <i>Chara</i> is a common genus in Israel, and its distribution varies across Israel's climatic gradient. Although few studies described the abundance and taxonomy of the local <i>Chara</i> species in Israel, only little is known about the molecular taxonomy of this group in the region. We sampled <i>Chara</i> species along Israel's climatic gradient and identified specimens using the classical taxonomy key and molecular identification methods. We characterized the molecular taxonomy of four <i>Chara</i> species:<i> C. vulgaris, C. contraria, C. gymnophylla,</i> and <i>C. globata</i>. Notably, the latter species, which was found in a hyper-arid area, was last recorded in Israel ~50 years ago on the northern Mediterranean coast and Judaean Mountains.<i> Chara gymnophylla</i> was more abundant in northern Israel, while <i>C. vulgaris </i>and<i> C. contraria</i> were common in southern Israel. We developed Inter Simple Sequence Repeat markers to identify the four species and sequenced their chloroplast gene <i>rbc</i>L. The phylogenetic trees generated using the <i>rbc</i>L sequences and ISSR-based dendrogram were consistent with the classical taxonomy of <i>Chara</i>.</p>