|Scientific Name:||Lysimachia minoricensis|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Extinct in the Wild ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||Galicia Herbada, D. & Fraga Arquimbau, P.|
|Reviewer(s):||de Montmollin, B., Galicia Herbada, D. & Bilz, M.|
Lysimachia minoricensis was only known from a single location (Barranc de Sa Vall), where it disappeared between 1926 and 1950. Fortunately seeds had been collected, and the species was cultivated from 1926 in the Botanical Garden of Barcelona. Although L. minoricensis was believed to be lost when the garden was abandoned during the Civil War, a colony was later rediscovered, growing in the shelter of a bushy thicket.
This species is now only found in cultivation and seedbanks. Note that while the species has recently been re-introduced to the wild, it has not yet formed self-sustaining populations.
|Range Description:||Endemic to Menorca in the Balearic Islands, Lysimachia minoricensis was only known from a single location (Barranc de Sa Vall), where it disappeared between 1926 and 1950.|
Regionally extinct:Spain (Baleares)
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||This plant is only found in cultivation.|
|Habitat and Ecology:||The only notes made by its discoverer recorded that this herbaceous biennial grew in cool, shady places. This species seems able to produce seeds without pollinators. The number of seeds produced per individual is very high, with up to 3,300 counted for some plants, with an average number of 1,100. Experiments have shown that germination rates are very high, and germination can occur over a wide range of temperature, light, and soil salinity conditions. There is also experimental evidence that this species is well adapted to water stress. The leaves emit a strong odour that may be an adaptation to protect the plant from herbivores.|
|Major Threat(s):||The reasons for its disappearance in the wild are unknown. It is possible that over-collection and the impact of human activities (such as fire and changes in agricultural practices) may have caused its extinction. On the other hand, it is possible that this species might have benefited from agricultural activities practiced in the past, and that the cessation of these practices may have caused the disappearance of habitat favourable to this species. The most successful re-introduction attempts, where plants survived for up to five years, were in areas previously disturbed by fire, cattle or goats.|
Actions in Place
Legally: This species is included in Appendix I of the Bern Convention and listed in the Catalogue of Threatened Species (Catálogo de Especies Amenazadas, CEA). The natural area where it was known from and to where re-introduction attempts have been made (Son Bou i Barranc de Sa Vall) is designated as a Site of Special Natural Interest by the Law 1/1991 of the Parliament of the Balearic Islands. It is also included in the European Natura 2000 network.
In situ: Attempts to re-introduce the species into its native habitat have been undertaken since 1959 but have been unsuccessful. The most recent attempts have re-introduced this species with mycorrhizal fungi in the gorges of Sa Vall, Trebaluger, and Algendar. However, the seeds from these individuals have failed to germinate, thus this species is still considered to be Extinct in the Wild.
Ex situ: Seeds of this species are conserved in numerous seedbanks. It is also cultivated in several botanical gardens using seeds produced by the original specimens.
Most urgently, it is important to understand the reproductive biology of this species, especially the factors that inhibit the germination of seeds in the wild. Second, re-introduction attempts need to be continued. Finally a management plan needs to be developed for the areas where the species has been re-introduced so that the re-introduced populations become self-sustaining.
Bolòs, O. 1962. Algunas novedades florísticas. Collectanea Botanica 6: 357-362.
Calero, C., Ibáñez, O., Mayol, M. and Rosselló, J.A. 1999. RAPD markers detect a single phenotype in Lysimachia minoricensis J.J. Rodr., a wild extinct plant. Molecular Ecology 8: 2133-2136.
Fraga, P. 2000. Intentos de reintroducción de Lysimachia minoricensis J.J. Rodr. En Menorca. Conservación Vegetal 5: 12.
Galicia Herbada, D. 2003. Lysimachia minoricensis. In: Á. Bañares, G. Blanca, J. Güemes, J.C. Moreno and S. Ortiz (eds), Atlas y Libro Rojo de la Flora Vascular Amenazada de España. Dirección General de Conservación de la Naturaleza, Madrid, Spain.
Galmés, J., Abadía, A., Medrano, H. and Flexas, J. 2007. Photosynthesis and photoprotection responses to water stress in the wild extinct plant Lysimachia minoricensis. Environmental and Experimental Botany 60: 308-317.
Gómez-Campo, C. (coord.) 1987. Libro Rojo de especies vegetales amenazadas de España peninsular e Islas Baleares. ICONA, Madrid, Spain.
Ibáñez, O., Calero, C., Mayol, M. and Rosselló, J.A. 1999. Isozyme uniformity in a wild extinct insular plant, Lysimachia minoricensis J.J. Rodr. (Primulaceae). Molecular Ecology 8: 813-817.
IUCN. 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2011.2). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 November 2011).
Montmollin, B. de and Strahm, W. (eds). 2005. The Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants: Wild plants at the brink of extinction, and what is needed to save them. IUCN SSC Mediterranean Islands Plant Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Rosselló, J.A. and Mayol, M. 2002. Seed germination and reproductive features of Lysimachia minoricensis (Primulaceae), a wild-extinct plant. Annals of botany 89: 559-562.
Villar, L. 1997. Lysimachia L. Flora Iberica, V : 46-51.
Walter, K.S. and Gillett, H.J. (eds). 1998. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN - The World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
|Citation:||Galicia Herbada, D. & Fraga Arquimbau, P. 2011. Lysimachia minoricensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 August 2014.|
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