Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Plants
Flowering Plants
Location and scope
Specific locality or subnational name or regional name
United Arab Emirates (the)
Scope (of the Assessment)
National
Countries included within the scope of the assessment
United Arab Emirates (the)
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Not_assigned
Conservation Status
Assessed as
Data Deficient
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
The distribution of this species in the UAE is apparently not well documented, possibly as a result of confusion with Schismus barbatus, and it appears to be known from a very small number of records in the Hajar Mountains and Jebel Hafeet. This almost certainly does not represent its full range in the UAE, and recent surveys confirm that the species is abundant in deserts in the northern Gulf (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). It is considered Data Deficient pending further information on its distribution.
Assessment details
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Criteria system used
IUCN
Reference for methods given
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.
Further information
Endemism (according to assessment)
Endemic to region
Not assigned
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
The species is mentioned by Jongbloed et al. (2003) without details. The species has been recorded from Jebel Hafeet (Sakkir and Brown 2014) and from Fujairah (RBG Edinburgh Herbarium; Jebal Ruwaydah at the head of Wadi Sidakh). More recent surveys confirm that the species is abundant in deserts in the northern Gulf (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). The native range of this species is along Mediterranean coastal countries of North Africa to Ethiopia, and the eastern Mediterranean (from Greece eastwards), through the Arabian Peninsula, to Mongolia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019). The species has become widespread and invasive in arid and semi-arid regions of North America and Australia (CABI 2019).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This is a small, tufted annual grass that grows up to 0.2 m in height (CABI 2019). As a desert annual, it can be absent for many years and only appear, or are more conspicuous, in particularly wet seasons (Sakkir and Brown 2014). MEW (2010) recorded the habitat as dry wadi banks and beds, whilst the RBG Edinburgh record was from a north-facing limestone hillside.
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Grazing by livestock may impact the species in parts of its range, but there is no information on the scope or scale of this threat.
Publication
Allen, D.J., Westrip, J.R.S., Puttick, A., Harding, K.A., Hilton-Taylor, C. and Ali, H. 2021. UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants. Technical Report. Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates, Dubai.
