The conservation status of Hymenocrater yazdianus Rech. f., an endemic species in Iran

Hymenocrater yazdianus Rech. f. is a perennial plant, belonging to the Lamiaceae family. It is a local endemic species in Yazd province, center of Iran. The habitat of this species is distributed in the south and west of province in mountainous areas with a steep slope.  Based on IUCN guidelines, three criteria were used to evaluate the status of this pecies: extent of occurrence (EOO), area of occupancy (AOO) and size of populations. According to the field survey and plot sampling, H. yazdianus occupies an area of 0.001225Km2, and the extent of occurrence is 162/8 Km2. Thus, according to the results of this study, H. yazdianus is recognized as "Critically Endangered". Field observations showed that the lack of management and inappropriate exploitation such as non-observance of the grazing season and degradation of habitat were considered as the main threats to this rare species. Given the importance of conserving endemic and critically endangered species, it seems necessary to define its natural habitat areas as protected habitats as well as storing its seeds in the natural resources gene bank and doing research on the reclamation methods or planting the study species in Botanical Gardens.