Taxonomic Notes
Based on the interpretation of the bread wheat gene pool of van Slageren (1994), Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn. is a tertiary wild relative of bread wheat, Triticum aestivum L. spp. aestivum and durum wheat, T. turgidum spp. durum (Desf.) Husn., as well as a number of other cultivated wheats; including emmer wheat, T. turgidum spp. dicoccon (Schrank) Thell., einkorn wheat, T. monococcum L. ssp. monococcum, spelt, T. aestivum ssp. spelta (L.) Thell., and sanduri wheat, T. timopheevii (Zhuk.) Zhuk. spp. timopheevii.
Six subspecies are native to Europe: A. cristatum ssp. brandzae (Pantu & Solacolu) Melderis, A. cristatum (L.) Gaertn. ssp. cristatum, A. cristatum ssp. pectinatum (M. Bieb.) Tzvelev, A. cristatum ssp. ponticum (Nevski) Tzvelev, A. cristatum ssp. sabulosum Lavrenko and A. cristatum ssp. sclerophyllum Tzvelev (Valdés and Scholz; with contributions from Raab-Straube and Parolly 2009).
Justification
European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
Agropyron cristatum has a widespread distribution, overall stable subpopulations and does not face major threats in the core of its range. However, it is threatened in some European countries, as it is mainly at the northwestern limit of its range, and needs local conservation attention. It is therefore regionally assessed as Least Concern.
Geographic Range Information
A. cristatum is native to middle, east, southeastern and southwestern Europe, as well as many parts of temperate Asia (USDA, ARS National Genetic Resources Program 2010).
Information on its national distribution is available for the following countries:
- Czech Republic: only one location in south Moravia.
- Belarus: although Valdés and Scholz; with contributions from Raab-Straube and Parolly (2009) consider it to be native, according to experts present at a European vascular plants Red List workshop convened in Portugal, April 2010, it is possibly an alien species in this country.
- France: one department only (Association Tela Botanica 2000–2010).
- Greece: only old records of this species exist.
- Hungary: North Hungarian Mountains (Zemplén-,Bükk-mountains, Gyöngyös, Gödöllő Hills), Transdanubian Mountains (Visegrád-, Buda-, Gerecse-, Velencei-, Bakony mountains, Balaton region), Transdanubia (Sopron, Baranya, Tolna,) Great Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld Plain, Danube region, Danube-Tisza köze region, Tiszántúl region frequent), adventive in Debrecen.
- Slovakia: A. cristatum ssp. pectinatum (M. Bieb.) Tzvelev occurs in the west and southwest of the country (Eliáš Jr. unpublished).
Population Information
This species is noted as common in parts of its range, such as Bulgaria and Germany, but is rare in others, such as Belarus and the Czech Republic. Further research is needed to gather information about the population size and trend of this species.
Habitat and Ecology Information
A. cristatum occurs in dry areas such as steppes and dry grassland. For example in Hungary it can be found in vegetation on loess cliffs (Agropyro-Kochietum prostratae), steep loess slopes (Salvio-Festucetum rupicolae), pastures (Cynodonto-Poetum angustifolli), sand steppes and in dry weedy vegetation. It prefers warm, loose loam-, loess-, sandy, soils rich in alkaline minerals.
Threats Information
Threats are mainly related to the species being at the limits of its northwestern range. However overall this species does not face major threats.
Use and Trade Information
A. cristatum is a tertiary wild relative of and potential gene donor to bread and durum wheat, as well as a number of other cultivated wheats; including emmer, einkorn, spelt and sanduri. The species is also a widely cultivated forage crop.
Conservation Actions Information
The genus
Agropyron is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as part of the wheat gene pool.
EURISCO reports 181 A. cristatum accessions held in European genebanks, 87 of which are reported to be of wild or weedy origin. Of the wild accessions, 27 originate from within Europe. These accessions originate from Ukraine (12), Spain (three), Hungary (eight) and Bulgaria (four) (EURISCO Catalogue 2010).
Knowledge of its national threat status is as follows:
- Croatia (A. cristatum ssp. pectinatum): Critically Endangered (CR) A4ac;C1 (Nikolić and Topić 2005).
- Switzerland: Vulnerable (VU) D1+2 (Moser et al. 2002).
- Czech Republic: Critically Endangered (CR).
- Slovakia: Endangered (EN) (Feráková et al. 2001).
Further research on the distributional range of this species is recommended.
