European Red List of Vascular Plants - European Commission

4.4 Spatial distribution of species
4.4.1 Species richness
Figure 14 shows the geographic distribution of species
richness of the sample of CWR assessed (excluding
species evaluated as Data Deficient and Not Applicable).
As expected, species richness is highest in those areas
of the region that are floristically rich – the countries
of southwestern and southeastern Europe. The Eastern
Mediterranean was recognized as a global Centre of
Crop Diversity by Vavilov (1926); therefore, it is not
surprising that as indicated in Figure 14, this area has
a particularly high concentration of CWR species.
Species richness in the countries of the EU (including
species evaluated as Data Deficient) is shown in Table
8. The top five countries in terms of species richness are:
Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Bulgaria.
4.4.2 Endemic species richness
Figure 15 shows the numbers and distribution of the
species endemic to Europe (excluding species evaluated
as Data Deficient and Not Applicable). Of the sample
of CWR assessed, 188 are endemic to Europe (Table
5) and of these, 119 are single country endemics.
Endemism is highest in the Spanish territories (37
species), Greece (22), Italy (15) and the Portuguese
territories (14). Many of these nationally endemic
species occur in the Canary Islands and Balearics
(Spain), Sicily (Italy) and Madeira (Portugal). Cyprus is
also a hotspot of endemism of CWR species – although
only six national endemics were included in this sample,
the level of endemism is high taking into account the
size of the country. Crimea also exhibits a high degree
of endemism which is due to the geographical isolation
of the land mass – the main area of diversity being on
the south side of the escarpment. As is the case for other
wild plant species, mountainous regions are also rich in
endemic CWR species – for example, in Greece, Italy
and Spain.
4.4.3 Distribution of threatened species
Figure 16 shows the distribution of threatened CWR
species in the sample assessed. As might be expected,
the highest numbers of threatened species are found in
the countries of southern and eastern Europe which are
known to have comparatively large floras and thus a large
number of CWR species. It is notable that many of the
Figure 16. Distribution of threatened CWR species in Europe (based on the sample included in the European Red List)
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