Ephedra altissima LC Taxonomic Authority: Desf.  Global Assessment  Regional Assessment Region: Global  Endemic to region Synonyms Common Names Chaetocladus altissi (Desf.) J.Nelson altissima var Stapf Ephedra altissima var Stapf Ephedra altissima var Ball Ephedra altissima var Trab. Ephedra altissima var Pamp. Ephedra wettsteinii Buxb.

Upper Level Kingdom: PLANTAE Phylum: TRACHEOPHYTA Class: GNETOPSIDA Order: EPHEDRALES Family: EPHEDRACEAE Lower Level Taxonomy Rank: Infra- rank name:  Hybrid Subpopulation: Authority:

General Information Distribution Distributed from north Africa including , , Malta, and to the .

Range Size Elevation Biogeographic Realm Area of Occupancy: Upper limit: 700  Afrotropical Extent of Occurrence: Lower limit: 10  Antarctic Map Status: Depth  Australasian Upper limit:  Neotropical Lower limit:  Oceanian Depth Zones  Palearctic  Shallow photic  Bathyl  Hadal  Indomalayan  Photic  Abyssal  Nearctic Population Population size is not known.

Total Population Size Minimum Population Size: Maximum Population Size: Habitat and Ecology Shrub often found on rocky calcareous slopes. Flowering time is between February-May. Fruiting time is between April-May. The ripe female cone is eaten by animals.

System Movement pattern Crop Wild Relative  Terrestrial  Freshwater  Nomadic  Congregatory/Dispersive  Is the species a wild relative of a crop?  Marine  Migratory  Altitudinally migrant

Growth From Definition Shrub - small Perennial shrub small (<1m) or dwarf shrub, also termed a Chamaephyte (<1m)

Threats There are general threats to the habitat across the distribution of this species, but no specific major threats.

Past Present Future 13 None  Conservation Measures Seed has yet to be collected as an ex-situ conservation measure. Not known to occur in any protected areas.

In Place Needed 3 Research actions  3.2 Population numbers and range  3.5 Threats  3.6 Uses and harvest levels  3.9 Trends/Monitoring  4 Habitat and site-based actions  4.4 Protected areas  4.4.1 Identification of new protected areas  5 Species-based actions  5.7 Ex situ conservation actions  5.7.2 Genome resource bank 

Countries of Occurrence

PRESENCE ORIGIN Year Breeding Non- Passage Possibly ExtinctPresence Native Introduced Re- Vagrant Origin Round Season breeding migrant extinct uncertain Introduced uncertain only season only Algeria    Libyan Arab Jamahiriya    Morocco    Spain    Canary Is.    Tunisia    Western   

General Habitats Score Description Major Importance 6 Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)1 Suitable Not applicable 8 Desert 2Marginal Not applicable 8.2 Desert - Temperate2 Marginal Not applicable Ecosystem Services  Insufficient Information available  Species provides no ecosystem services

Species Utilisation  Species is not utilised at all

Purpose / Type of Use Subsistence National International 3. Medicine - human and veterinary  The stems of most members of this genus contain the alkaloid ephedrine and are valuable in the treatment of asthma and many other complaints of the respiratory system ( for a Future 2010).

Trend in the level of wild offtake/harvest in relation to total wild population numbers over the last five years: Unknown Trend in the amount of offtake/harvest produced through domestication/cultivation over the last five years: Unknown CITES status: Not listed

Livelihood Value  There is no information for this species regarding its livelihood value.

IUCN Red Listing Red List Assessment:(using 2001 IUCN system) Least Concern (LC)

Red List Criteria: Date Last Seen (only for EX, EW or Possibly EX species): Is the species Possibly Extinct?  Possibly Extinct Candidate?  Rationale for the Red List Assessment The wide range and lack of direct threats indicates this species is not threatened at present. Further surveys are encouraged to determine population size and to monitor stability. Reason(s) for Change in Red List Category from the Previous Assessment:  Genuine Change  Nongenuine Change  No Change  Genuine (recent)  New information  Taxonomy  Same category  Genuine (since first assessment)  Knowledge of Criteria  Criteria Revisio and criteria  Incorrect data used  Other  Same category but previously change in criteria Current Population Trend: Stable Date of Assessment: 13/08/2010 Name(s) of the Assessor(s): A.Bell & S.Bachman Evaluator(s): Notes:

% population decline in the past: Time period over which the past decline has been measured for applying Criterion A or C1 (in years or generations): % population decline in the future: Time period over which the future decline has been measured for applying Criterion A or C1 (in years or generations): Number of Locations: Severely Fragmented: Number of Mature Individuals:

Bibliography Caveney,S., Charlet, D.A., Freitag,H., Maier-Stolte, M., Starratt, A.N., 2001, New Observations on the Secondary Chemistry of World Ephedra (Ephedraceae), American Journal of Botany7, 1199-1208, , Liu, K., Eastwood, R.J., Flynn, S., Turner, R.M., Stuppy, W.H., 2008, Seed Information Database (SID), , Published on Internet, Plants for a Future, 1996-2010, Plants For A Future, Earth, Plants, People., , , RBG Kew, 2009, World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, , Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/, South African National Biodiversity Institute, 2009, SANBI African Flowering Plants Database, , Published online at http://www.sanbi.org/frames/dbasesfram.htm, Unknown, 1999, Introduced (Naturalised) Species to the United States, , [USDA, NRCS 1999. The PLANTS database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA. ],