In 2012, Erythrina schliebenii was included among the world's 100 most threatened species, in a report by the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Zoological Society of London.
The Lake Latumba Erythrina, Erythrina schliebenii, is a legume tree in the family Fabiaceae, with large flame-red flowers, thick cork bark and spiny trunks typical of the large (130 species) genus Erythrina, the “coral trees”.This species is endemic to Eastern Africa coastal forests of Kenya and Tanzania.This tree was discovered and collected from two locations in at Lake Latumba, Tanzania in 1934 and 1935 by German Botanist Hans-Joachim Schlieben.However, this location was cleared for cashew orchards in 1940, and E. schliebenii, although the area was extensively searched, was not seen again. In 2011 it was considered extinct by the IUCN.In 2001, an expedition to the Namatimbilie inland of Kilwa, a newly found coastal forest, recovered flower specimens, which in 2011 were positively identified as Erythrina schliebenii when compared with Schlieben’s original type specimens housed at Kew Gardens. Furthermore, the new specimens were compared with two potential conspecific species from Madagascar, confirming that E. schliebenii is indeed a distinct species.The 12 individuals rediscovered at the Namatimbilie-Ngarama forest, 115 Km north of Lake Latumba, inhabit of rocky outcrops that are undesirable for agricultural use, and thus escaped clearing activities rampant in these coastal forests.The single locality that E. schliebenii occurs is secure but not yet protected.The IUCN has revised the status of E. schliebenii as critically endangered; this species also is included in a 2012 report by the IUCN/Zoological Society of London listing the world’s 100 Most Endangered species.
(Clarke et al. 2011; Baillie and Butcher 2012; IUCN 2012; WWF 2012)
Erythrina schliebenii is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. It is found only in Tanzania. The species is named for German collector and botanist Hans-Joachim Schlieben.[1]
Erythrina schliebenii grows as a tree 5–10 metres (16–33 ft) tall. Terminal leaflets are obtrapeziform and measure 14 centimetres (6 in) wide while the lateral leaflets are rhomboid to ovate and measure up to 14 cm (6 in) long. The leaflets are glabrous above with a few hairs on the undersides. Petioles are prickly and measure up to 20 cm (8 in) long.[3]
Inflorescences are many-flowered with a stalk up to 40 cm (16 in) long. The corolla is brightly coloured orange to red.[3]
Erythrina schliebenii is endemic to Tanzania. The species has a single known population located in forest inland from Kilwa.[4] Its habitat is forest on coral rag at an altitude of around 250 m (800 ft).[1]
Hans-Joachim Schlieben collected samples of Erythrina schliebenii in 1934 and 1935. The likely type location of the species, at Lake Lutamba near Lindi, was cleared for a cashew plantation in the 1940s. The species was initially declared extinct in 1998.[1]
In 2001, flowers and leaves of Erythrina schliebenii were collected by the University of Dar es Salaam herbarium in the Namatimbili Forest.[1] However the species was again believed to have become extinct in 2008 when the only known surviving trees fell victim to commercial logging.[4]
A small population of fewer than 50 individual trees was rediscovered in March 2012 during botanical explorations in the south-east of Tanzania, inland from Kilwa.[4] This population grows in rocky areas unsuited to cultivation. However, the area does not have protected status. The species is not known to be harvested but its ecosystem is threatened by developments such as for infrastructure. As of 2012, given the estimated population of from 10 to 50 individuals and the lack of a protected area, the IUCN has assigned Erythrina schliebenii the status of critically endangered.[1]
Erythrina schliebenii is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. It is found only in Tanzania. The species is named for German collector and botanist Hans-Joachim Schlieben.
