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Pinnate Viper's Grass
Podospermum alpigenum

-1.0 Extinct

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

Scorzonera
subintegra
once grew in two regions in Israel: the Judean Mountains and Upper Galilee. From the Upper Galilee it was collected once, in 1926, on Mount Cna'an. From the Judean Mountains, it was collected on
three sites
, all in the Jerusalem area: in
Anatot (Almon) in 1974, in the Matsleva Valley 1979 and Wadi Halets near Har Gilo in 1985. The species also grows in Edom.


S. subintegra is fairly common on Mount Hermon on the slopes of the montane zone, where a few plants
are scattered
 over a wide area. It also grows
in the
spiny
cushion plant zone, but it is rare there.

Fallow fields, rocky slopes, roadsides and disturbed areas. On Mount Hermon, it grows on rocky slopes and naturally disturbed sites (mole mounds, etc.). In its global range,
its habitat is herbaceous scrubland, soil pockets, on rocky hills, and mountain
roadsides.

·        
Scorzonera subintegra is in danger of extinction (and possibly extinct) as it has been recorded in in Israel from only a few sites, all currently unknown in the field. The estimated number of plants remaining in nature is very small, which threatens the continued existence of the species in Israel.

·        
The S. subintegra
populations
 that existed in the Upper Galilee and Judea are on the southern edge of its range and disjunct from the main distribution area where it grows north of Israel  high mountainous areas.

·        
S. subintegra
was not found
 to date in the Golan.

·        
S. subintegra was not found in the 2000-2002 rare plant survey in  in the Mount Cna'an and Jerusalem area, on sites
where it was collected after 1963 (see map). Consequently, the species in
Israel was placed (excluding
Mount Hermon) in the category of "extinct plants".

A field survey should
be conducted to locate
Scorzonera subintegra in the eastern Upper Galilee and in
the high mountains of Samaria
 and Judea. If found, a site for a nature reserve should be
located on
Mount
Cna'an and wherever it will be discovered in the Jerusalem Mountains
,
where it should be monitored twice yearly.

Scorzonera
subintegra
is found in the East Mediterranean and western Irano-Turanian
regions
, penetrating to the southern Euro-Siberian area. S.
subintegra
was described from Mount Hermon by Boissier.
It is found in mountainous regions in Turkey, Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

Scorzonera subintegra is a
very rare bi-annual or perennial herbaceous plant that may be extinct
 in
Israel
. S.
subintegra

belongs to a group of mountainous plants that
that
grow
 in the mountains of
the Middle East, common on Mount Hermon and very rare in the other parts of
 the
country
, on the summits
of the G
alilee Mountains or other mountain ranges.
T
he populations from the south of Mount Hermon may be relictual
populations from ancient cold periods when montane Hermon vegetation invaded
the region, which survived in refuges
. When the climate grew warmer in the Holocene this vegetation
retreated to the
mountain peaks, some became extinct and some survived and speciated to
endemic taxa. 
S.
subintegra
belongs to the surviving species, but human activity in recent decades has brought some of them to the
brink of
extinction.

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

FamilyAsteraceae
ClassificationOn the endangered species list
EcosystemCerasin (Tragacanthic), High Semi-Steppe
ChorotypeEast Mediterranean and Western Irano - Turanian
Conservation SiteMount Cna'an, Nebi Samu'el

Rarity
1
4
6
Vulnerability
0
1
4
Attractiveness
0
0
4
Endemism
0
0
4
Red number
1
-1.0
10
Peripherality 0
IUCN category DD EW EX LC CR EN VU NT
Threat Definition according to the red book Extinct
0 (2) districts
Disjunctiveness: No data
None% of protected sites

Other Species

Rigid Viper's Grass
Low Viper's Grass
Scorzonera tortuosissima
Podospermum meyeri