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
Least Concern
Criteria system used
IUCN
(see Assessment details)
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.
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 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).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Incomplete
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
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.
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
There are no major threats.
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.
