Abstract
An annotated checklist of the 271 strict-endemic taxa (235 species) and 387 near-endemic taxa (337 species) of vascular plants in Mozambique is provided. Together, these taxa constitute c. 9.3% of the total currently known flora of Mozambique and include five strict-endemic genera (Baptorhachis, Emicocarpus, Gyrodoma, Icuria and Micklethwaitia) and two near-endemic genera (Triceratella and Oligophyton). The mean year of first publication of these taxa is 1959, with a marked increase in description noted following the onset of the two major regional floristic programmes, the “Flora of Tropical East Africa” and “Flora Zambesiaca”, and an associated increase in botanical collecting effort. New taxa from Mozambique continue to be described at a significant rate, with 20 novelties described in 2018. Important plant families for endemic and near-endemic taxa include Fabaceae, Rubiaceae and Euphorbiaceae s.s. There is a high congruence between species-rich plant families and endemism with the notable exceptions of the Poaceae, which is the second-most species rich plant family, but outside of the top ten families in terms of endemism, and the Euphorbiaceae, which is the seventh-most species rich plant family, but third in terms of endemism. A wide range of life-forms are represented in the endemic and near-endemic flora, with 49% being herbaceous or having herbaceous forms and 55% being woody or having woody forms. Manica Province is by far the richest locality for near-endemic taxa, highlighting the importance of the cross-border Chimanimani-Nyanga (Manica) Highlands shared with Zimbabwe. A total of 69% of taxa can be assigned to one of four cross-border Centres of Endemism: the Rovuma Centre, the Maputaland Centre sensu lato, and the two mountain blocks, Chimanimani-Nyanga and Mulanje-Namuli-Ribaue. Approximately 50% of taxa have been assessed for their extinction risk and, of these, just over half are globally threatened (57% for strict-endemics), with a further 10% (17% for strict-endemics) currently considered to be Data Deficient, highlighting the urgent need for targeted conservation of Mozambique’s unique flora. This dataset will be a key resource for ongoing efforts to identify “Important Plant Areas – IPAs” in Mozambique, and to promote the conservation and sustainable management of these critical sites and species, thus enabling Mozambique to meet its commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Highlights
Endemic species are an important component of a country’s biodiversity stewardship and natural capital (Mapaura 2002)
An annotated checklist of the strict-endemic and near-endemic taxa of Mozambique is presented in Suppl. material 1, with a summary of the checklist provided in Appendix 1
If the total number of native and naturalised vascular plant species in Mozambique is taken as ± 6,157, approximately 3.8% of the species are strict-endemics, whereas the strictendemics and near-endemics combined account for 9.3% of the plants in Mozambique at the species rank, discounting undescribed taxa
Summary
Endemic species are an important component of a country’s biodiversity stewardship and natural capital (Mapaura 2002). Restricted endemics are often amongst the species most sensitive to environmental change and disturbance, and so at highest risk of extinction (Crisp et al 2001; Işik 2011; Borokini 2014; Abdelaal et al.2018; Orsenigo et al 2018). These species form important components for a range of methods for identifying and conserving biodiversity priorities, such as Important Plant Areas (Darbyshire et al 2017), Key Biodiversity Areas (IUCN 2016), and the site criteria of the Alliance for Zero Extinction (Ricketts et al 2005; http:// zeroextinction.org/the-alliance/about-the-alliance/). This paper presents the first detailed account of the endemic flora of Mozambique, a biodiversity-rich country in southern tropical Africa (Fig. 1)
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