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Syrian Hartwort
Tordylium syriacum

6.8 Critically endangered

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

Tordylium
syriacum
is a very
rare species in Israel. It has been found in
a very small number of sites, in only  four regions  Hermon (En Qiniye, April 1971), Upper Galilee (Mt Canaan, 1956), Acre Valley and the Carmel Coast (the data in Flora Palaestina from the Carmel is misleading because the plant was collected on the Carmel Coast near Tira in 1926). During the past 50 years, it has not been found in the Galilee, the Carmel Coast or in the Acre Valley,
and it is probably extinct in these
regions. The sites were carefully surveyed
and the species was not found in them.

Apparently grows mainly on terra rossa patches in rainy
mountains, but has also been collected from field margins and heavy soils.

·        
Tordylium
syriacum
has not been found for decades in
western Israel
, and it is probably extinct. Populations have disappeared from known sites, probably due to the modernization of farming methods in heavy soil fields.

A special rare plant survey should be conducted in an attempt to find Tordylium syriacum. The survey should focus on traditionally
cultivated heavy soils in northern Israel
. If it is not found, reintroduction to the edges of heavy soil
fields on the Carmel Coast or on the coast of the Western Galilee, 
from seeds of Syrian or southern Turkey origin, should be considered.

The global distribution of Tordylium
syriacum
is limited to southern Turkey, Cyprus, the Mediterranean area in Syria and Lebanon, and northern Israel. Thus, the
species is endemic to the
Middle East.

Tordylium syriacum is an extremely
rare annual species, which has been found only in a very small
 number of sites in northern Israel, on deep valley
soils
, a habitat that is
threatened by development and the transition to intensive
 agriculture with extensive pesticide use. It may have become extinct in western Israel. Efforts should be invested to
find it in its habitat and
 to prioritize its preservation.

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

FamilyApiaceae
ClassificationOn the endangered species list
EcosystemMediterranean
ChorotypeEastern Mediterranean
Conservation SiteSite on the Carmel Beach

Rarity
1
6
6
Vulnerability
0
4
4
Attractiveness
0
0
4
Endemism
0
2
4
Red number
1
6.8
10
Peripherality N
IUCN category DD EW EX LC CR EN VU NT
Threat Definition according to the red book Critically endangered
1 (3) districts
Disjunctiveness: Low
0.0% of protected sites

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