Ascension Island Code of Conduct Many of our species and habitats are protected by the Wildlife Protection Ordinance and Protected Areas legislation – it is an offence to deliberately harm or remove them without written authorisation. n Only park vehicles in designated areas n Leave gates and property as you find them n Do not create fire hazards n Place all litter in bins provided or take it home n Keep dogs under close control Image Credits Ascension Island Conservation Department; Marcella Corcoran and Martin Hamilton (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) For more information contact: Ascension Island Conservation Department/Tourist Office Conservation Centre, Georgetown, FLORA Ascension Island, ASCN 1ZZ of Ascension Island Tel (+247) 66359 Email [email protected] Web www.ascension-island.gov.ac Ascension Island Endemic Higher Plants FLORA of Ascension Island The vegetation of Ascension Island has Anogramma ascensionis Asplenium ascensionis Conservation status Conservation status undergone vast ecological change that Critically Endangered Vulnerable mostly resulted from plant introductions Description Description in the 19th century. Commonly known as the Parsley fern, This is a small, glossy, dark green fern it was believed to be extinct until 2009, that can grow to 40cm in length and is Changes continue to the present. At the suggestion of Sir when during an annual plant census it the most widespread of the endemic Joseph Hooker, and with encouragement from Charles was rediscovered by local and visiting plant species. The fern grows in tufts Darwin, the Island now boasts over 400 introduced botanists. Most recently observed with fronds that arch out against the plants ranging from large trees to shrubs and annual plants are very small, lime green in rock face and cinder bank walls, often colour and reaching no more than 4cm spreading and forming carpets along herbaceous plants. There are at least 25 plants that are in length, although historical records hard surfaces. native to Ascension – this includes ten endemic species, show ferns of up to 10cm. The number of which seven are still alive. of individuals in the wild fluctuates Habitat and Location seasonally, but thanks to restoration It can be found growing in dark Bryophytes (lower plants comprising mosses, liverworts and efforts by the Royal Botanic Gardens at crevices, shaded sheltered banks, old hornworts) have been less well studied, but are now receiving more Kew and the AIG Conservation Team, stone walls and cliff faces. The main attention. There are 77 recorded species of bryophytes on Ascension, the end of 2014 saw over 150 plants populations are found in moist areas, growing in the wild. between 550m and 770m in the Green of which 15 are believed to be endemic to the island. Green Mountain Mountain National Park. A. ascensionis is the centre of diversity for both the higher and lower plants and Habitat and Location is commonly found at the Old Marine boasts the only man-made cloud forest in the world. Hooker’s Individuals occur on sparsely Barracks, Breakneck Valley, Elliot’s greening experiment has not been an unqualified success with vegetated, vertical cinder banks along Pass on clinker banks and tunnels and most of the native and endemic plants being severely outcompeted Phil’s Folly Ridge, Elliot’s Pass, and several of the other valleys draining the by those that were introduced. However, the Ascension Island Breakneck Valley. These plants are south side of Green Mountain. exposed to the prevailing winds and Conservation Department is working to find a balance between the regular moisture and are at heights native and endemic flora, the introduced species that are beneficial that are difficult for sheep and rabbits and those that are just invasive weeds. to access. Endemic Lower SEAbirds Plants of Ascension Island In the most recent checklist, compiled in 2015, Ascension’s bryophyte flora stands at four hornworts, 23 liverworts and around 50 mosses. This is small Euphorbia origanoides Pteris adscensionis Ptisana purpurascens Sporobolus caespitosus Stenogrammatis ascensionensis compared with the mainland continents of South America and tropical Africa Conservation status Conservation status Conservation status Conservation status Conservation status and also the nearest (1300km to the Critically Endangered Critically Endangered Critically Endangered Critically Endangered Critically Endangered southeast) island of St Helena that boasts about 110 species. However, the total Description Description Description Description Description number of endemics amongst these is Euphorbia origanoides is the only This is the second largest endemic fern Ptisana purpurascens (formerly Marattia purpurascens) is the largest endemic fern Sporobolus caespitosus is a spiky, green/grey grass species and is the only Stenogrammatis ascensionensis remarkably high compared with other dry land endemic species growing growing on Ascension. It has wing-like on Ascension. It has broad, brittle fronds that can grow up to 2m in height, and mountain-growing endemic that flowers. In the wild, individual plants naturally (formerly Xiphopteris ascensionensis) island bryophyte floras. Pending further on Ascension. It has red stems and linear frond segments and can grow up has large, glossy pinnules with a pointed tip. Depending on location, this fern can form tussocks up to 20cm across and 10cm in height. However, in cultivation is the smallest fern growing on morphological and molecular studies, the small, oval blue/green tooth-edged to 80cm high. Depending on climate vary in colour from light to dark green. It is a long-lived species, with mature plants this grass can reach 50cm in diameter and approximately 30cm in height. The Ascension. The fronds are arching number of supposed endemics currently leaves, which form in pairs at regular and location this fern can vary in colour living upwards of ten years. flowering spikes are hidden amongst the leaves. and often hang down and the fern totals 15; two hornworts, two liverworts intervals along the stems. A few also from light to dark green. can reach up to 10cm in length. (plus a further liverwort endemic to have dark red leaves. Blossoms are Habitat and Location Habitat and Location Depending on climate and location Ascension and St Helena) and 11 mosses. yellowish flowers, which are often Habitat and Location The fern is found in two main habitats on the Island. In open grasslands where it This grass is confined to the cooler, misty northern and eastern it can vary in colour from light to paired in clusters. Mature plants grow It occurs on relatively dry, forms dense undergrowth on the southeast side of the mountain above Elliot’s sides of the Green Mountain National Park, usually found dark green. It grows scantly in drier, Introduced Plants into dome-shaped tufts, or are spindly, sparsely vegetated areas Pass, it grows alongside populations of the native fern Histiopteris incisa. Here it growing at around 600m. Sporobolus caespitosus grows in windy, exposed areas and can appear depending on habitat. If the stems including cinder banks, sheltered grows tall and stout and has narrow pinnules of lighter green. Another smaller exposed conditions, often on scrubby bare rock surrounded dried-out. Over 90% of plant species on Ascension are snapped, a poisonous milky white gullies, rock crevices and open population grows amongst the bamboo thicket at the top of Green Mountain by an extensive mat of bryophytes. These areas include Windy Island have been introduced to the island. sap flows. soil. The largest of the wild where the plants are smaller, with thin stems and broad, dark pinnules. Ridge, Phil’s Folly and regions around Elliot’s Pass. Habitat and Location While a number appear to be growing in populations grows at Breakneck This fern occurs in the dampest harmony and alongside the native and Habitat and Location Valley and neighbouring gullies, areas of Green Mountain. It endemic flora (see leaflet: Flora and Fauna It grows in sparsely vegetated areas, Mulberry Ravine and Cricket Short Tunnels is generally associated with The Residency KEY of Green Mountain), others are proving to North East Cottage including lava flow plains, fine red Valley. A small scattered quantity PICNIC AREA the mosses Calymperes sp., be more problematic and are spreading scorias and chalky hillsides, or on dry grows on the southwest side BISHOP’S PATH Campylopus sp., Anastophllum MOUNTAIN ROAD at an alarming rate. This includes the TO TWO BOATS CAMP SITE ash substrate and fine dust lowlands. of Green Mountain, between ZIGZAG PATH BREAKNECK VALLEY piligeum and Mastigophora Mexican thorn (Prosopis juliflora), whose Tunnels Bridge The majority grow from sea level to 300–400m in altitude. ELLIOT’S PATH diclados. It is limited to small presence was recorded in the 1960s and Garden Cottage Tunnel CAR PARK 310m inland. The largest colonies GUAVA RAVINE BATES RAVINE areas of sparsely-vegetated moss has since spread extensively across the BLACK ROCK RAVINE DEW POND MULBERRY RAVINE BANANA RAVINE Rock Cottage can be found at South Gannet Hill, The WAR PATH / NATURE TRAIL VIEW POINT banks on the south and east side drier lowlands of the island and is now the Red Lion RUPERT’S PATH BOOBY RAVINE Tunnels Cotar, Round Hill, Mars Bay, Letterbox Bell’s Cottage Tunnel of Green Mountain, and more dominant plant species in these areas. and Hummock Point, with smaller CRONK’S PATH PUBLIC TOILET abundantly as an epiphyte (a Other introduced plants include the Old Marine