Asparagus macrorrhizus

It is known from four subpopulations distributed along an specific habitat known as restinga, and separated by golas or narrow passages connecting the marine lagoon and the open Mediterranean Sea: Veneziola, Marchamalo, Lo Poyo and San Pedro del Pinatar. A continuous population decline has been observed (Carrillo et al. 2015, Sánchez Balibrea et al. 2015), particularly in Lo Poyo and San Pedro del Pinatar, where only 5 of the 21 previously recorded plants survive. One of these four subpopulations, Veneziola, contains more than 80% of the population (Sánchez Gómez et al. 2009, Carrillo López et al. 2015, Sánchez Balibrea et al. 2016). The population is inferred to be severely fragmented based on the observed decline, the fact that the species remains in four small subpopulations, which are isolated and with little probabilities of genetic exchange, and suspected to have reached no viable levels due to coastal urban development. The precise population size could not be estimated because the individual plants are difficult to identify (Carrillo et al. 2015, Sánchez Balibrea et al. 2016).