Assessment Report - Asystasia hirsuta

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	LAMIALES	ACANTHACEAE

Scientific Name:	Asystasia hirsuta
Species Authority:	(T.J.Edwards) I.Darbysh. & E.A.Tripp
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	Salpinctium hirsutum T.J.Edwards
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Vulnerable B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K.
Reviewer/s:	Raimondo, D.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This species has a restricted distribution, with an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 6,923.895 km² and an area of occupancy (AOO) of 24 km². It known from six locations and the areas where this species has been found are subjected to the threat of habitat destruction by ongoing livestock grazing, and in some parts of its range, to urban development. Based on this, it has been assessed as Vulnerable, under Criterion B.
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	This species has been recorded from five widely spread locations within Eswatini, four from the highveld and one in the Lubombo mountains. There is also a record from South Africa, near Nelspruit, making this species a near endemic for Eswatini.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini; Mpumalanga;

Population
Population:	No population surveys have been carried out for this species. For the purposes of this assessment, the locations from older records have been included, as, at the time of this assessment, there is no evidence to indicate that the plant no longer exists in these areas. Where this species has been observed recently, it was uncommon, with two individuals observed in the area visited. It is likely that this species is naturally rare.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population

Population:

No population surveys have been carried out for this species. For the purposes of this assessment, the locations from older records have been included, as, at the time of this assessment, there is no evidence to indicate that the plant no longer exists in these areas. Where this species has been observed recently, it was uncommon, with two individuals observed in the area visited. It is likely that this species is naturally rare.

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	This species has been observed in vegetation type KaNgwane Montane Grassland (Gm16) in the Eswatini highveld, and in vegetation type Southern Lebombo Bushveld (SVI16) in the Lubombo Mountains. In South Africa, based on the relatively vague herbarium specimen locality description it is inferred to occur in Barberton Serpentine Sourveld (SVI13) (Mucina et. al. 2018).
List of Habitats:	2 Savanna 2.2 Savanna - Moist 4 Grassland 4.7 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude

Threats
Major Threat(s):	The recent observations of this species in the Eswatini highveld were in an area subject to heavy grazing and adjacent to expanding urban development. These threats also impact a second subpopulation recorded from the same general area, near the Ngwenya/Oshoek border. All subpopulations within Eswatini are likely to be impacted by livestock grazing as none of the subpopulations occur within protected areas. The threats to the South African subpopulation are unknown.
List of Threats:	1 Residential & commercial development 1.1 Housing & urban areas 2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Threats

Major Threat(s):

The recent observations of this species in the Eswatini highveld were in an area subject to heavy grazing and adjacent to expanding urban development. These threats also impact a second subpopulation recorded from the same general area, near the Ngwenya/Oshoek border. All subpopulations within Eswatini are likely to be impacted by livestock grazing as none of the subpopulations occur within protected areas. The threats to the South African subpopulation are unknown.

List of Threats:

1 Residential & commercial development
1.1 Housing & urban areas
2 Agriculture & aquaculture
2.3 Livestock farming & ranching
2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	None of the records for this species are from within an existing conservation area. There are no ex situ collections either and given the lack of in situ protection, ex situ collection is a priority.
List of Conservation Actions:	1 Land/water protection 1.2 Resource & habitat protection 3 Species management 3.4 Ex-situ conservation 3.4.2 Genome resource bank

Bibliography
	Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A.W., de la Torre, J. and Scott, B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT geospatial conservation tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e-Infrastructure for data publishing in biodiversity science. . ZooKeys 150: 117-126. Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. and Powrie, L.W. (Editors). 2018. The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Available at: http://bgis.sanbi.org/Projects/Detail/186.

Bibliography

Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A.W., de la Torre, J. and Scott, B. 2011. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT geospatial conservation tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e-Infrastructure for data publishing in biodiversity science. . ZooKeys 150: 117-126.
Mucina, L., Rutherford, M.C. and Powrie, L.W. (Editors). 2018. The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Available at: http://bgis.sanbi.org/Projects/Detail/186.

Citation: