Medicago laciniata | UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants

Taxa
Medicago laciniata | (L.) Mill.
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
Taxonomic Notes
Medicago laciniata (L.) Mill. is a tertiary wild relative of <span class=""msoins0"">alfalfa (M. sativa L.) (Singh and Jauhar 2005).
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
Within the UAE, this species was recently recorded from Jebel Hafeet and is also known from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011, Sakkir and Brown 2014). It is generally found within the Hajar Mountains, although localities may be scattered (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Globally, the native range of this species encompasses southern Africa, in addition to Macaronesia to Ethiopia and Tanzania, and on to India (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).
Habitats and Ecology
Ecological system type
Terrestrial system
No
Freshwater system
No
Marine system
No
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This annual herb species is known to grow within gravel plain environments in low montane areas, along with garden and plantation habitats (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Mahmoud et al. 2018). The stems can grow up to 30 cm and the leaves have blunt tips with toothed edges (Jongbloed et al. 2003). In addition, the plant produces yellow flowers between February and April, while the seed pod has the form of a small prickly globe (Jongbloed et al. 2003). It is considered to be an important contributor to biomass in dune and stabilised sand environments (Ghazanfar and Fisher 1998). It is a crop wild relative of alfalfa, Medicago sativa (Kameswara Rao 2013).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Assessed status
Asessment status in full
Least Concern
Assessment status abreviation
LC
Assessment rationale/justification
This species occurs throughout the Hajar Mountains and the Ru'us al-Jibal, in addition to scattered localities around the UAE. It has also been recently described from Jebel Hafeet. It is generally considered to be common within the country and is known to occur in at least one protected area. Although grazing may have an impact on this species, it is not currently known whether this poses a major threat, as the structure of the plant's seed pod may deter grazers. As a result, it is assessed as Least Concern.
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
This species may be affected by grazing of goats within areas of its range (Norton et al. 2009, Shahid 2017). However, the bristly fruit of this species may provide a slight deterrent to potential browsers (Norton et al. 2009).
Conservation Measures

Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:

Scientific Name Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus
Medicago laciniata Plantae Tracheophyta Magnoliopsida Fabales Fabaceae Medicago