Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 641 No. 2: 18 Mar. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-03-18
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.641.2.3
Page range: 112-124
Abstract views: 99
PDF downloaded: 2

Parkinsonia aculeata L. recorded as alien species in natural habitats of Egypt: Potential for naturalization, invasion or utilization!

Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21511, Egypt
Department of Botany & Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswan 21511, Egypt
Department of Botany & Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswan 21511, Egypt
invasive species naturalized species woody species area of occupancy extent of occurrence Eudicots

Abstract

Parkinsonia aculeata L. is native to South America and was recorded for the first time in Egypt in the wild. It was recorded in vegetation survey of Elephantine Island in Aswan Governorate in 2020, then it was recorded in Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert in 2023. The species identity was confirmed by a comparative macromorphological study between the collected specimens and herbarium specimens from other countries, and live specimens cultivated in Antoniades Botanic Garden in Alexandria. The occurrence of this species in the natural habitats of Egypt represents an important disjunction of the biogeographic relevance and raises concerns. The species may cause negative impacts to native species, outcompeting species of the same functional group, or can increase fire hazards in the invaded areas. Taking into consideration that the species has already been naturalized in some countries, its further expansion in Egypt is a possibility. It is of great concern to monitor and control the spread of the species in Egypt and possibly promote an early eradication. Notes on the habitat in which the species has been recorded and its invasive status in Egypt and surrounding nations are discussed.

References

  1. Abdallah, A.H., Elhussein, A.A. & Ibrahim, D.A. (2022) Implementation of Parkinsonia aculeata in Phytoremedation of Crude Oil Contaminated soil in Sudanese Environment. Asian Journal of Research in Botany 8 (4): 41–48.
  2. Abdelaziz, S., Al Yousef, H.M., Al-Qahtani, A.S., Hassan, W.H., Fantoukh, O.I. & El-Sayed, M.A. (2020) Phytochemical profile, antioxidant and cytotoxic potential of Parkinsonia aculeata L. growing in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal 28 (9): 1129–1137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2020.08.001
  3. Ben Mahmoud, K., Mezzapesa, G.N., Abdelkefi, F. & Perrino, E.V. (2024) Beta macrocarpa Guss. In Tunisia: nutritional and functional properties of the underutilized wild beet in relation to soil characteristics. Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration. [In press]
  4. Borges, P.A. (2008) Listagem dos fungos, lora e fauna terrestres dos arquipélagos da Madeira e Selvagens. Direcção regional do Ambiente da Madeira and Universidade dos Açores, Funchal & Angra do Heroísmo.
  5. Boulos, L. (1999) Flora of Egypt, vol. 1. Cairo: Al Hadara Publishing, pp. 417.
  6. Boulos, L. (2000) Flora of Egypt, vol. 2. Cairo: Al Hadara Publishing, pp. 352.
  7. Boulos, L. (2002) Flora of Egypt, vol. 3. Cairo: Al Hadara Publishing, pp. 373.
  8. Boulos, L. (2005) Flora of Egypt, vol. 4. Cairo: Al Hadara Publishing, pp. 617.
  9. Boulos, L. (2009) Flora of Egypt: Checklist. Cairo: Al Hadara Publishing, pp. 410.
  10. Braun-Blanquet, J. (1964) Grundzuge der Vegetationskunde. Wine 1928. In: Pflanzensoziologie. Vol. 2. 631 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-8110-2
  11. Burkill, H.M. (1995) The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. Vol. 3: Families. J-L. Richmond, UK: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
  12. CABI (2022) ‘Parkinsonia aculeata (Mexican palo-verde)’, CABI Compendium. CABI International. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.38519
  13. Coutts, S.R., Helmstedt, K.J. & Bennett, J.R. (2018) Invasion lags: the stories we tell ourselves and our inability to infer process from pattern. Diversity and Distributions 24: 244–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12669
  14. Cullen, J., Julien, M. & McFadyen, R. (2012) Biological control of weeds in Australia. CSIRO Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1071/9780643104204
  15. Cunliff, K.M. (1974) Trees for tomorrow. [Parkinsonia aculeata and Pterocarya rehderiana.]. Trees in South Africa 26 (2): 51–54.
  16. Dimmitt, M.A. (1987) The hybrid Palo Verde’Desert Museum’: a new, superior tree for desert landscapes.
  17. Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) (2012) ArcGIS Release 10.1. Redlands, CA.
  18. Fady, B. & Conord, C. (2010) Macroecological patterns of species and genetic diversity in vascular plants of the Mediterranean basin. Diversity and distributions 16 (1): 53–64.
  19. GBIF (2023a) GBIF.org (22 February 2023) GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.mcbh3d
  20. GBIF (2023b) GBIF.org (24 February 2023) GBIF Occurrence Download. https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.wnwggy
  21. Gupta, R.S., H. Rehwani, V. Khushalani, K. Tanwar & Joshi, Y.C. (2007) Antispermatogenic effects of Parkinsonia aculeata stembark in male rats. Pharmaceutical Biology 45: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/13880200601026234
  22. Hamdy, R.S., Abd El-Ghani, M.M., Youssef, T.L. & El-Sayed, M. (2007) The floristic composition of some historical botanical gardens in the metropolitan of Cairo, Egypt. African Journal of Agricultural Research 2 (11): 610–648.
  23. Hassan, S.W., Umar, R.A., Ebbo, A.A., Akpeji, A.J. & Matazu, I.K. (2008) Hepatoprotective effect of leaf extracts of Parkinsonia aculeata L. against CCl4 intoxication in albino rats. International Journal of Biological Chemistry 2: 42–48. https://doi.org/10.3923/ijbc.2008.42.48
  24. Hawkins, J.A., Boutaoui, N., Cheung, K.Y., Van Klinken, R.D. & Hughes, C.E. (2007) Intercontinental dispersal prior to human translocation revealed in a cryptogenic invasive tree. New Phytologist 175 (3): 575–587. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02125.x
  25. Heneidy, S.Z., Bidak, L.M., Halmy, M.W.A., Fakhry, A.M., Toto, S.M. & El Kenany, E.T. (2024) Naturalization and invasion potential of Sesuvium portulacastrum L. recorded as alien species in Egypt. Scientific Reports 14 (1): 3117. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53627-7
  26. Hill, J.K., Collingham, Y.C., Thomas, C.D., Blakeley, D.S., Fox, R., Moss, D. & Huntley, B. (2001) Impacts of landscape structure on butterfly range expansion. Ecology Letters 4 (4): 313–321. [https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.38519; https://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/RedListGuidelines.pdf]
  27. IUCN (2017) IUCN Guidelines for using the IUCN red list categories and criteria, version 13. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge.
  28. IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee (2022) Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 15.1. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Committee.
  29. Kaky, E. & Francis, G. (2019) Assessment of the extinction risks of medicinal plants in Egypt under climate change by integrating species distribution models and IUCN Red List criteria. Journal of Arid Environments 170: 103988.
  30. Kamal, R. & Mathur, N. (2007) Rotenoids from Parkinsonia aculeata L. and their in vitro amoebicidal activity. Asian Journal of Experimental Sciences 21: 317–323.
  31. Lorenzi, H. (2002) Brazilian trees: a guide to the identification and cultivation of Brazilian native trees. Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 368 pp.
  32. Müller, M. (2016) Among the Priests of Elephantine Island Elephantine Island Seen from Egyptian Sources. Die Welt des Orients 46 (2): 213–243. https://doi.org/10.13109/wdor.2016.46.2.213
  33. Omar, K. & Elgamal, I. (2021) Conservation of challenging endemic plant species at high risk of extinction in arid mountain ecosystems: a case study of Rosa arabica Crép. in Egypt. Journal of Mountain Science 18 (10): 2698–2721. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-021-6750-2
  34. Ortega-Nieblas, M., Vázquez-Moreno, L. & Robles-Burgueño, M.R. (1996) Protein quality and antinutritional factors of wild legume seeds from the Sonoran desert. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 44 (10): 3130–3132. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf9506139
  35. Orwa, C., Mutua, A., Kindt, R., Jamnadass, R. & Simons, A. (2009) Agroforestree database: a tree species reference and selection guide version 4.0. World Agroforestry Centre ICRAF, Nairobi, KE.
  36. Parsons, W.T. & Cuthbertson, E.G. (1992) Noxious Weeds of Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Inkata Press.
  37. Peattie, D.C. (1991) A natural history of western trees. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  38. Perrino, E.V., Mahmoud, Z.N.A., Valerio, F., Tomaselli, V., Wagensommer, R.P. & Trani, A. (2023) Synecology of Lagoecia cuminoides L. in Italy and evaluation of functional compounds presence in its water or hydroalcoholic extracts. Scientific Reports 13: 20906. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48065-w
  39. Perrino, E.V., Wagensommer, R.P., Silletti, G.N., Signorile, G. & Angiulli, F. (2013) Nuovi dati distributivi e relazione con la Direttiva 92/43/CEE di taxa critici pugliesi dalla Provincia di Bari. Informatore Botanico Italiano 45 (1): 53–62.
  40. Post, G.E. & Dinsmore, M.S. (1932) Flora of Syria, Palesine and Sinai. Second edition. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
  41. POWO (2023) Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ (accessed: 18 March 2023). [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:512242-1]
  42. Ramalhete, C., Lopes, D., Mulhovo, S., Rosario, V.E. & Ferreira, M.J.U. (2008) Antimalarial activity of some plants traditionally used in Mozambique. In: Proceedings of the Workshop Herbolary Medicinal Plants in the Tropics, Oct. 29–31, IICT/CCCM. pp: 1–9.
  43. Rojas-Sandoval, J. (2023) Parkinsonia aculeata (Mexican palo-verde). CABI Compendium. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.38519
  44. Romão, M.V.V. & Mansano, V.D.F. (2021) Taxonomic review of the species of Parkinsonia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae) from the Americas. Rodriguésia 72: e01962020. https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-7860202172119
  45. Ross, R.H. (1998) Parkinsonia. In: Orchard, A.E. & McCarthy, P.M. (eds.) Flora of Australia. Volume 12. Mimosaceae (excl. Acacia), Caesalpiniaceae. Melbourne: CSIRO, Australia, pp. 69–70.
  46. Sandvik, H. (2020) Expansion speed as a generic measure of spread for alien species. Acta biotheoretica 68 (2): 227–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10441-019-09366-8
  47. Seebens, H., Blackburn, T.M., Dyer, E.E., Genovesi, P., Hulme, P.E., Jeschke, J.M., Pagad, S., Pyšek, P., Winter, M., Arianoutsou, M., Bacher, S., Blasius, B., Brundu, G., Capinha, C., Celesti-Grapow, L., Dawson, W., Dullinger, S., Fuentes, N., Jäger, H., Kartesz, J., Kenis, M., Kreft, H., Kühn, I., Lenzner, B., Liebhold, A., Mosena, A., Moser, D., Nishino, M., Pearman, D., Pergl, J., Rabitsch, W., Rojas-Sandoval, J., Roques, A., Rorke, S., Rossinelli, S., Roy, H.E., Scalera, R., Schindler, S., Štajerová, K., Tokarska-Guzik, B., van Kleunen, M., Walker, K., Weigelt, P., Yamanaka, T. & Essl, F. (2017) No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide. Nature communications 8 (1): 14435. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14435
  48. Sharma, S. & Vig, A.P. (2014) Preliminary phytochemical screening and in vitro antioxidant activities of Parkinsonia aculeata Linn. BioMed research international 2014: 756184. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/756184
  49. Täckholm, V. (1974) Students’ Flora of Egypt, 2 ed., Cairo: Cairo University, 888 pp.
  50. Trivedi, V.P. (1975) Preliminary studies of Garur Buti (Parkinsonia aculeata Linn.) as an antirabic agent. Quarterly Journal of Crude Drug Research 13: 22–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/13880207509162244
  51. Troup, R.S. &, Joshi, H.B. (1983) The Silviculture of Indian Trees. Vol. IV. Leguminosae. Delhi, India; Controller of Publications.
  52. van Klinken, R.D., Campbell, S.D., Heard, T.A., McKenzie, J. & March, N. (2009) The biology of Australian weeds: 54.’Parkinsonia aculeata’L. Plant Protection Quarterly 24 (3): 100–117.
  53. Verloove, F. (2013) New xenophytes from Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain), with emphasis on naturalized and (potentially) invasive species. Collectanea Botanica 32: 59–82. https://doi.org/10.3989/collectbot.2013.v32.006
  54. von Maydell, H.J. (1986) Trees and shrubs of the Sahel, their characteristics and uses (No. 196). Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit; Germany.
  55. WFO (2023) Parkinsonia aculeata L. Published on the Internet; http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000170206 (Accessed: 17 Mar 2023).
  56. Wilson, C.G. & Miller, I.L. (1987) Parkinsonia aculeata in the Northern Territory. Technical Bulletin (Department of Industries and Development, Australia) 106: 1–10.