Taxon name
Schismus barbatus
(L.) Thell.
Uploaded by
National Red List Database
Taxonomic information
Scientific name
Schismus barbatus
(L.) Thell.
Assessed taxon level
Species
Higher level taxonomic groupings
Plants
Flowering Plants
Species authority
(L.) Thell.
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 has a poorly known distribution in the UAE, from Sabkhat Matti in the west, possibly along near-coastal areas to Abu Dhabi Island, and from Taweelah to Ra's al-Khaimah, and from inland areas such as Jebel Hafeet and the Sweihan-Al Hayer area. Although the species is likely to have been impacted by, especially, coastal development, it is considered 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
This species appears to have a scattered distribution in the UAE. Jongbloed et al. (2003) show records in the west (Sabkhat Matti), at Jebel Hafeet, and in the northwest, in the Musandam Peninsula. It has also been found in Taweelah, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ra's al-Khaimah and the Sweihan-Al Hayer area, and is possibly distributed along the entire near-coastal region west of Abu Dhabi Island (Brown et al. 2007). More recent surveys confirm that the species is abundant in deserts in the northern Gulf (G. Brown pers. comm. 2019). Globally, this species occurs in southern Africa, across much of northern Africa, Spain, France, the Middle East and various parts of Central Asia (Board of Trustees, RBG Kew 2018). It has been widely introduced to the Americas, parts of western Europe, and to Australia.
Is there a map available in assessment?
Incomplete
Habitat and systems
Ecological system type
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species is an annual grass that grows up to 0.2 m in height, flowering from February to March. It grows in sand and silt between rocks (Jongbloed et al. (2003). MEW (2010) have the habitat as stable sand sheets often overlaying limestone. 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).
Threats and conservation measures listed
Threats listed in assessment
Grazing by livestock may impact the species in parts of its range, and impacts from coastal development are likely to have been significant.
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.
