Achyranthes aspera | UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants

Taxa

Achyranthes aspera | L.

Publication

UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants

Location

Countries in Assessment

United Arab Emirates

Country ISO code(s)

ARE

Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?

Off

Scope (Assessment)

National

Taxon

Taxonomic Group

Plants

Taxonomic Group Level 2

Flowering Plants

Assessed taxon level

Species

Taxon distribution as listed in assessment

This species is found widespread in several scattered locations throughout the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003, MEW 2010). It is recorded from Abu Dhabi Emirate (Brown and Sakkir 2004). The species is globally distributed in the tropical and subtropical Old World and widely introduced in the Americas and in Europe (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018). The origin of the species is uncertain, and it is possibly native to Southeast Asia and/or Africa (BioNET-EAFRINET 2011, CABI 2019).

Habitats and Ecology

Ecological system type

Terrestrial system

Freshwater system

Marine system

Habitat

Habitat details as listed in assessment

This is a perennial species that flowers from December to April. It can be found in plantations and moist disturbed areas (Jongbloed et al. 2003, MEW 2010), in addition to oases. Across its range, it is common species of disturbed places, very variable, much-branched, 1-6 ft. high, sometimes subscandent, sometimes woody (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018). This species is also known to be spread by livestock and other animals.

Is there a map available in assessment?

Incomplete

Assessed status

Asessment status in full

Least Concern

Assessment status abreviation

Assessment rationale/justification

This species is found widespread in several scattered locations throughout the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003, MEW 2010, Brown and Sakkir 2004), although the full distribution is not well known. It occurs in agricultural land and in plantations, and is unlikely to face significant threats, and is considered Least Concern. However, further research is required to confirm the origin of this species in the UAE given the types of habitat that this species occurs in, and the medicinal and other uses of the species, suggesting that it may have been introduced through cultivation. The indigenous distribution of the species is uncertain, and it is possibly native to Southeast Asia and/or Africa.

About the assessment

Assessment year

2019

Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed

UAE National Red List Workshop

Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment

Government

IGO

Assessor affiliation specific

Government|IGO

Criteria system

Criteria system specifics

IUCN v3.1 + Regional Guidelines v4.0

Criteria system used

IUCN

Criteria Citation

IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.

Endemism

Endemic to region

Not_assigned

Endemism Notes

Is an endemic?: Not_assigned

Conservation

Threats listed in assessment

There are no major threats.

Conservation Measures

Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:

Scientific Name	Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus
Achyranthes aspera	Plantae	Tracheophyta	Magnoliopsida	Caryophyllales	Amaranthaceae	Achyranthes