Euphorbia aleppica: Red Data Book of Armenia

CR B 1 ab(i,ii,iii,iv) + 2 ab(i,ii,iii,iv)

Category. Critically endangered species. It occurs only in one floristic region. The extent of occurrence and the area of occupancy are less than 10 km2. The key threats include restricted area of distribution and habitat loss as a result of the expansion of Yerevan City. It was not included in the first edition of the Red Data Book of Armenia. It is not included in the Annexes of CITES and that of the Bern Convention.

Description. Annual plant, 10–25 cm. Leaves narrowly linear, 1 mm broad, acute, numerous, very dense. Involucre bracts triangular–rhomboid, lonng–acuminate. Apical flower stalks 3–5, unequal, thick. Nectaries crescent–shaped, elongated in long cornets. Seeds densely torulose, with small appendages.

Distribution. In Armenia it occurs only in Yerevan floristic region (surroundings of Yerevan). AOO is 8 km2. The number of locations is 1. The species grows in West, East and South Transcaucasia, in the countries of the Mediterranean Sea Basin (eastern region), the Crimea, North–East Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Ecological, biological and phytocoenological peculiarities. Grows in lower mountain belt, at the altitudes of 800–1400 meters above sea level, in the dry stony slopes, in semi–desert. Flowering in May, fruiting in June.

Limiting factors. Restricted extent of occurrence and area of occupancy, loss/degradation of habitats caused by expansion of settlements.

Conservation actions. No conservation actions. Necessary: monitoring of the population state, search on new habitats, expansion of the boundaries of "Erebuni" State Reserve including the red clays of the Tertiary period found in the neighborhoods of Nubarashen.