Assessment Report - Orthosiphon vernalis

	IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) Toolkit
	Assessment Report

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
PLANTAE	TRACHEOPHYTA	MAGNOLIOPSIDA	LAMIALES	LAMIACEAE

Scientific Name:	Orthosiphon vernalis
Species Authority:	Codd
Common Name/s: -
Synonym/s:	-
Taxonomic Notes:	-

Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:	Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii)
Year Assessed:	2023
Assessor/s:	Braun, K.
Reviewer/s:	Raimondo, D.
Contributor/s:
Facilitator/s:
Institutions/s:
Justification: This Eswatini endemic species has a restricted range with an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 24.034 km² and an area of occupancy (AOO) of 16 km². It is known from five locations. Threats to the population include habitat loss due to forestry plantations and expansion of crops and habitat degradation due to livestock grazing and timber harvesting. Based on this, it has been assessed as Endangered, under Criterion B.
History:	-

Geographic Range
Range Description:	This species has a very restricted distribution, it has been found in the Eswatini middleveld, from the Malkerns area to Bhunya. Locality information from older herbarium specimens does not include precise coordinates, so the extent of occurrence of approximately 25 km² is a rough estimate.
Countries:	Native: Eswatini;

Population
Population:	No population surveys have been conducted for this species. The location information for the early specimens is very vague. For the purposes of this assessment, because of this uncertainty, it has been assumed that this species could still occur in historically collected areas, in spite of extensive habitat transformation in the area. Old herbarium specimen label information indicates that this species was abundant at the time of collection between 1959 and 1961. Given the extensive transformation of natural areas within its range and ongoing high levels of degradation the population is likely to be declining.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Population

Population:

No population surveys have been conducted for this species. The location information for the early specimens is very vague. For the purposes of this assessment, because of this uncertainty, it has been assumed that this species could still occur in historically collected areas, in spite of extensive habitat transformation in the area. Old herbarium specimen label information indicates that this species was abundant at the time of collection between 1959 and 1961. Given the extensive transformation of natural areas within its range and ongoing high levels of degradation the population is likely to be declining.

Population Trend:

Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology
Habitat and Ecology:	This species has been recorded from the Eswatini middleveld, in vegetation type Swaziland Sour Bushveld (SVI14) (Mucina et. al. 2018). The old herbarium specimen label information has the habitat for this species as tall farm veld, deep red clay loam soil.
List of Habitats:	2 Savanna 2.2 Savanna - Moist

Threats
Major Threat(s):	The distribution of this species falls within forestry plantation, intensive agriculture and rangeland areas. Within the forestry plantation, there is a risk of firebreaks being planted up, as well as disturbance during timber harvesting. In the Malkerns area, the continued expansion of agriculture and urban development threatens the habitat for this species. Heavy grazing has potentially had an impact on the habitat for this species.
List of Threats:	2 Agriculture & aquaculture 2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops 2.1.3 Agro-industry farming 2.2 Wood & pulp plantations 2.2.2 Agro-industry plantations 2.3 Livestock farming & ranching 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Threats

Major Threat(s):

The distribution of this species falls within forestry plantation, intensive agriculture and rangeland areas. Within the forestry plantation, there is a risk of firebreaks being planted up, as well as disturbance during timber harvesting. In the Malkerns area, the continued expansion of agriculture and urban development threatens the habitat for this species. Heavy grazing has potentially had an impact on the habitat for this species.

List of Threats:

2 Agriculture & aquaculture
2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops
2.1.3 Agro-industry farming
2.2 Wood & pulp plantations
2.2.2 Agro-industry plantations
2.3 Livestock farming & ranching
2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

Conservation Actions
Conservation Actions:	This plant has not been found within any conservation areas.
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 4 Education & awareness 4.3 Awareness & communications

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: