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Abyssinian Comet Plant
Cometes abyssinica

3.7 Vulnerable

Update Time: Jan. 1, 2011, 7:39 a.m.

Cometes
abyssinica
is found with certainly only on one site on Wadi Roded
in the Elat region of. It is estimated that there are about three sites in Israel.

Warm rocky wadi
channels with a precipitation below 40 mm, in the Elat Mountains made of igneous
and dark metamorphic rocks.

·        
Cometes
abyssinica
has so far been found only twice at one site in the Elat
Mountains regions, and there is no information regarding other sites or change
trends. This is an annual or an inter-annual plant that germinates only in rare
rainy years and therefore it is extremely difficult to find. Information is
lacking regarding the number of plants, population size and the soil seed bank.

·        
The scant
information available makes it difficult to estimate threat factors, but the
small population observed in the extreme edges of its range, is at risk because
of its very small size.

·        
The site is
located in the Massif Elat Nature Reserve.

·        
C. abyssinica has a fairly broad geographic distribution in the deserts south of
Israel. It does not appear in the red species lists and there is no reliable information
on its status in other countries.

Efforts should
be invested in searching for and locating
Cometes
abyssinica
in the Elat Mountains after heavy rains to obtain
updated information on its status, and subsequently to formulate its monitoring
or management policy. We should consider expanding populations in refuge gardens
and populating Wadi Shlomo Mount Tsfahot, from local sources or from eastern
Sinai.

Cometes
abyssinica
grows in the eastern Saharo-Arabian region in the arid
deserts of Egypt, Sinai, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Arabia. It is not found
in southern Jordan.

Cometes abyssinica is an extremely rare annual (possibly inter-annual) Sudanian plant, for
which the Elat Mountains are the northern limit of its geographical
distribution. The identity of the taxon is not fully clear.

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

FamilyCaryophyllaceae
ClassificationOn the endangered species list
EcosystemDesert
ChorotypeEastern Sudanian
Conservation SiteWadi Roded

Rarity
1
6
6
Vulnerability
0
0
4
Attractiveness
0
0
4
Endemism
0
0
4
Red number
1
3.7
10
Peripherality S
IUCN category DD EW EX LC CR EN VU NT
Threat Definition according to the red book Vulnerable
1 (1) districts
Disjunctiveness: 0
100.0% of protected sites

Other Species

Paronychia palaestina
Echinolate Nailwort, Eurasian Nailwort
Bufonia ramonensis
Compact Velezia, Dense Velezia