Taxon name
Indigofera oblongifolia
Forssk.
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Indigofera oblongifolia
Forssk.
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Plants
Flowering Plants
Species authority
Forssk.
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
Near Threatened
Qualifying criteria (if given)
B1b(iii)
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
This species occurs in protected areas and is also able to persist in disturbed areas. It is salt-tolerant and seems to persist in unfavourable conditions, despite being described as rare. It has a restricted distribution with an estimated extent of occurrence (EOO) of 887 km<sup>2</sup>. In addition, it is thought to be experiencing an ongoing decline of extent and quality of habitat due to coastal development. The number of threat-based locations within which this species occurs is currently unclear. Therefore, it is assessed as Near Threatened.
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
This species occurs along the eastern coast of the UAE (Jongbloed et al. 2003, MEW 2010). The estimated EOO for this species is 887 km<sup>2</sup>. Globally, this species occurs from western tropical Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species is a perennial shrub which is found growing in sand and gravel plains (Mahmoud et al. 2018), in addition to disturbed areas such as abandoned fields and roadsides (Jongbloed et al. 2003, MEW 2010). It is described as being a xerohalophyte: a salt-tolerant desert growing species (Ghazanfar and Fisher 1998, Böer and Saenger 2006). This plant has woody stems and can grow up to 1.0 m in height, producing red flowers streaked with yellow between February and April (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Indigofera oblongifolia is also a crop wild relative of indigo, Indigofera tinctoria (Kameswara Rao 2010).
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
This species may have been negatively impacted by ongoing development along the east coast of the UAE.
History
There was less coastal development occurring in 1996 compared to now, and so it is deemed that it would have been Least Concern in 1996.
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.
