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Haller's Sedge, Low Sedge
Carex hallerana

4.2 Endangered

name of participantsBased on: "The Red Book of Israeli Plants - Threatened Plants in Israel" by Prof. Avi Shmida, Dr. Gadi Pollack and Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir
Update Time: Jan. 1, 2011, 7:39 a.m.

Carex hallerana
grows only in the Judean Mountains region in Mevaseret Tsion area and on
Mount Tayasim.
It was first collected in 1939 at Motsa Ilit, and since then was never found
again until 1986 (see Flora Palaestina, Vol. 4). In the 1990s, it was found at
En Tayasim and in the years 2002-2003, following the rare plant survey in the
Jerusalem area, it was also collected in the Castle National Park, in the
Mount Tayasim
reserve, in Mevaseret Tsion and in Wadi Ma'oz Tsion descending to En Naqoba,
north of Kibbutz Tsova. All these sites are within an area of
​​10 square kilometers, and the distance between the
extreme sites is only 5.5 km

Sarcopoterium
spinosum
scrubland on abandoned terraces on gray rendzina soil
and a mixed limestone and chalk substrate. It also grows together withThymus
capitatus
on marl, e.g.
Mount Tayasim.
In Cyprus and Turkey, the species also grows on scrubland and in open
woodlands. In Cyprus its growth up to an altitude of 1200 meters.

     
Seven Carex hallerana
populations are known from four sites (each site has an area of
​​1 sq. km) all
located in one section, between Mevaseret Tsion and Mount
Tayasim. Only the Mount Tayasim
site is located in a nature reserve, the rest are located on the western
fringes of settlements (Mevaseret Tsion) that are spreading westward rapidly
and threatening the existence of
C. hallerana
in Israel.

     
The sites where C. hallerana
grows are popular with walkers and hikers, and trampling on
Mount Tayasim and En Tayasim threaten the populations.

     
The number of plants
is very small. The total number of plants in all the populations along the
Jerusalem Hills is estimated at only 200. The number of plants on Mount
Tayasim is estimated at 75 (Shir Vered).

A detailed field survey should be conducted in the
Mevaseret-Mount
Tayasim area,
to define the boundaries of all the
Carex hallerana populations and
determine their size. Two populations (in Wadi Ma'oz Tsion and mount
Tayasim) should be selected for monitoring the species; the
population at the Castle National Park (where only three plants were counted) should
be rehabilitated and expanded. A learning center focusing on
C. hallerana
as a red species should be established there. Care should be taken to leave
open scrubland and prevent exclusion of
C. hallerana
by competing plants.

Carex
hallerana
a broad distribution throughout the Mediterranean
Basin, in Western Asia and the temperate zone of Europe: from Spain and the
Maghreb Countries in the west through France, Italy and the Balkans, and also
in Tunis and Libya in the southern Mediterranean. It is found throughout
Atlantic and Central Europe and in the Caucasus and Black Sea countries. In the
Middle East, it grows in northern Turkey, Anatolia, Southern Turkey and the
Aegean islands, Cyprus, northwestern Iran, Afghanistan and the Syrian-Lebanese
coast. It is absent from Jordan and northern Iraq. It is an exotic species in
North America and New Zealand.

Carex
hallerana
is a very small perennial Cyperaceae that grows only in one region in Israel – the
Judean Mountains. A northern peripheral plant that is one of the rarest and
most threatened plants in Israel. The Safdie plan for the development of the
western entrance to Jerusalem will destroy it completely. The ecological reason
for the fact that they grow precisely on only these four sites in Israel and
precisely on this section is not clear.
The proximity of the C.
hallerana
sites was a factor in determining the red number of the species.

 

name of participantsBased on: "The Red Book of Israeli Plants - Threatened Plants in Israel" by Prof. Avi Shmida, Dr. Gadi Pollack and Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir

Current Occupancy Map

Current occupancy map for observations per pixel
1000 squre meter pixel 5000 squre meter pixel 10000 squre meter pixel
number of observations 0 0 0
in total pixels 0 0 0

FamilyCyperaceae
ClassificationOn the endangered species list
EcosystemMediterranean
ChorotypeMediterranean (Southern Euro – Siberian and Western Irano Turanian)
Conservation SiteMount Tayasim

Rarity
1
4
6
Vulnerability
0
2
4
Attractiveness
0
0
4
Endemism
0
0
4
Red number
1
4.2
10
Peripherality N
IUCN category DD EW EX LC CR EN VU NT
Threat Definition according to the red book Endangered
1 (1) districts
Disjunctiveness: High
0.25% of protected sites

Other Species

Hispid Sedge, Hairy Sedge
Marsh Sedge, Lesser Pond Sedge
Bastard Cyperus, Cypress-like Sedge
Sharpscale Bulrush