Taxon name
Astragalus arpilobus
Kar. & Kir.
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Astragalus arpilobus
Kar. & Kir.
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Plants
Flowering Plants
Species authority
Kar. & Kir.
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
Least Concern
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
Assessment rationale/justification
This species is considered to be common in the northern Emirates of the UAE, where it occurs widely among inland sand dunes. It is assessed as Least Concern.
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
Within the UAE, this species is found on inland sand dunes (G.R. Feulner pers. comm. 2019). It has also been recorded (a single locality within a cultivated field) from the Ru'us al-Jibal (Feulner 2011). Jongbloed et al. (2003) shows (as the synonym Astragalus hauarensis Boiss.) a coastal distribution along the Arabian Gulf coast, however, this is incorrect (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). This species has a very wide global distribution, from north-west Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, north to south-east European Russia, and east to Pakistan and northwestern China (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2019).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Incomplete
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This annual herb species grows in stable sand between low sand dunes, in addition to within wadi beds and on wadi banks (Jongbloed et al. 2003, Norton et al. 2009, MEW 2010, Mahmoud et al. 2018). Within this habitat, it is considered an important contributor to biomass (Ghazanfar and Fisher 1998). It has stems flat to the ground, which can reach up to 30 cm length, and leaves within flattened hairs (Jongbloed et al. 2003). Between February and April, mauve flowers are produced (Jongbloed et al. 2003). This species is a crop wild relative of Astragalus species, including the cicer milkvetch (Kameswara Rao 2013).
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
There is no information available.
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.
