Crataegus ulotricha: Red Data Book of Armenia

CR B 1 ab(iii) + 2 ab(iii)

Category. Critically endangered species. Endemic of Armenia. The extent of occurrence and area of occupancy are less than 10 km2. 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. Shrub or small tree, 2–5 m, with slightly spiny branches. Leaves bicolor, from above dull green, from below greyish; with crisped, soft, disappearing at the end of vegetation pubescence; broadly ovate or rhomb–shaped, not deeply 3–lobed; at the margins unequally serrate or slightly incised. Inflorescence few–flowered. Fruits dark purple or almost black, globose or elliptic, cherry–red; pyrenes 2–4.

Distribution. It grows in Zangezur floristic region (Tass mountain pass). AOO is 8 km2, the number of locations is 1.

Ecological, biological and phytocoenological peculiarities. Grows in middle mountain belt, at the altitude of 1400–1500 meters above sea level, at the edges of oak–hornbeam forests, in the open forests, on the rocky slopes of river gorges. Flowering in June, fruiting in July–October.

Limiting factors. Restricted extent of occurrence and area of occupancy.

Conservation actions. No conservation actions. Necessary: survey on population numbers and range, search of new habitats, monitoring of the state of the population.