An endangered West African rattan palm: Eremospatha dransfieldii

Abstract

Eremospatha dransfieldii is a robust rattan palm, climbing up to 40 m in length. It is only known to occur in the south-western region of Ghana, south-eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire and in Sierra Leone. The species' Area of Occupancy (AOO) is restricted to just 40 km². This species is confined to moist-evergreen forests with high rainfall. It is known to be facing habitat loss and over-harvesting of its stems. We assess Eremospatha dransfieldii as Endangered based on criteron B2ab(iii), according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (ver 3.1).

Keywords

• Endangered species
• habitat loss
• over-harvesti