Orange Bird's Foot, Pinnate Bird's Foot

Ornithopus pinnatus

Ornithopus pinnatus is found in two regions
on the Israeli coastal plain: in the Sharon and Pleshet, at 18 recorded sites
although it is estimated that there are 21 sites. In the Sharon, it now grows
mainly in Netanya (near Dora pond and in the Netanya Forest (Sergeants
Forest)), Herzliya and Ramat HaSharon, in the IMI compound adjacent to them
(Ron Frumkin) and the Ahu Binyamina. O. pinnatus is extinct in the Sharon in some sites located near settlements where
urban construction has expanded into open spaces – Pardes Hanna, Hadera,
Netanya, Ra’anana, Hod HaSharon and Herzliya. In Pleshet it is now found in
Shdema and in Bet Elazari, but is extinct from Petah Tikva and the surroundings
of Tel Aviv and Bne Brak, probably due to the spread of built-up areas. There
are records from D. Zohari from 1950 from Ramat Menashe, but apparently the
plant does not grow in this region.

Fallow fields
and herbaceous vegetation, mainly on sandy soil and clayish red loam.

The genus Ornithopus has nine
species found throughout the Mediterranean Basin to western Asia. One species
grows in South America. In Israel, the most common species in the genus is O.
compressus, a hairy plant of red loam on the coastal plain with
characteristic pinnate bracts located at the edge of the pedicel, and a flattened
fruit.

·        
The distribution
of Ornithopus pinnatus in the coastal regions
has been relatively stable over time (the collection from Ramat
Menashe was apparently a one-time exception). Nevertheless, there is a significant
decrease in the number of sites in each of these regions, particularly near
urban settlements.

·        
The main
extinction factor was and continues to be, the destruction of red loam and
sandy red loam habitats in open areas near urban settlements in the Sharon and Pleshet
regions.

·        
None of the
sites on which the plant grows today is located in a declared nature reserve.

·        
O. pinnatus does not appear in the red species lists of other countries. 

Action should be
taken to have the Ahu Binyamina and Dora Pond declared as nature reserves, as
well as finding ways to protect the Netanya Forest and the IMI complex populations.

Ornithopus pinnatus
grows in all the Mediterranean countries with the exception of
Egypt and Libya. In California and New Zealand, it is a naturalized species.

Ornithopus pinnatus
is a rare herbaceous plant of sandy soils on the coastal plain whose
populations have significantly decreased due to the loss of open spaces, which is
threatened by the of the development of additional remaining open areas on the
coastal plain.