National Red Data Books

Red List of the Vascular Plants of Luxembourg. Guy Colling. 2005. Full Red List available in PDF form. Details and online searches are available in English. For statistics from the book, see left-hand panel. Threat categories adapted from IUCN (2001) with two additional ones, RE for Regionally Extinct (extinct in Luxembourg, extant elsewhere) and R for Extremely Rare.

Travaux scientifiques du Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Luxembourg. XI Liste Rouge des Bryophytes du Grande-Duché de Luxembourg. Musée d'Histoire Naturelle, Luxembourg.

A project led by Thierry Helminger on rare and threatened indigenous trees and shrubs of Luxembourg is gathering information on conservation status, contributing to the seed bank of endangered plant species, creating an ex situ conservation collection and contributing to in-situ conservation. Details on the web.

Liste rouge des bryophytes du Luxembourg: Mesures de conservation et perspectives. J. Werner. Ferantia 35. Pp 71. 2003.

Floras

Nouvelle flore de la Belgique, du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, du Nord de la France et des Régions voisines (Pteridophytes et Spermatophytes). Cinquième édition. J. Lambinon, L. Delvosalle & P. Duvigneaud. 2004. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise, Belgium.

Flora van België, het Groothertogdom Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en de aangrenzende gebieden (Pteridofyten en Spermatofyten). Derde druk. J. Lambinon, J.E. De Langhe, L. Delvosalle & J. Duvigneaud. 1998. Nationale Plantentuin van België, Meise, Belgium.

Atlas de la Flore Belge et Luxembourgeoise. Pteridophytes et Spermatophytes. E. Van Rompaey & L. Delvosalle. 1979. Jardin Botanique National de Belgique, Meise, Belgium.

The Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi of Belgium and Luxemburg. An Annotated Checklist. P. Diederich & E. Serusiaux. 2000. National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg.

Vegetation

A largely agricultural landscape. Original vegetation cover almost entirely modified except for small forest fragments on steep rocky slopes, covering c. 33% of country, of which beechwoods comprise 38%, oakwoods 28% and conifer plantations 33% (L. Reichling, in litt.). In the Ardennes, near Echternach, is one of Europe’s most ancient forests, of oak, beech and hornbeam, now protected as the Deutsch-Luxemburgischer Naturpark. (Paragraph reproduced with permission from Davis, S.D. et al. (1986). Plants in Danger: What do we know? IUCN, Gland, Switzerland).

Plant Conservation Programmes

The Ministry of Environment has a national biodiversity protection programme. The occurrence of one or more listed threatened plants (or animals) gives the land-user/owner the possibility to participate in a specifically adapted extensification/management programme to protect this species (with monitoring of the target species required).

Specific programmes on Scorzonera humilis and Arnica montana.

Key Institutions

Musée national d’histoire naturelle, Section botanique, 24, rue Münster, L-2160 Luxembourg

Administration des eaux et Forêts, Service Conservation de la Nature, B.P. 411, L-2014 Luxembourg

Ministère de l’environnement, Section Protection de la nature, L-2918 Luxembourg.

Acknowledgement

Based on material prepared by Hugh Synge for the Council of Europe, 1999-2000, with information and help from Marie-Paule Kremer, Luxembourg. Last updated August 2005.

1253 vascular plant species

Extinct: 1 (Bromus grossus)
(Erroneously omitted from WCMC,1998 - see below)
Other categories: 0

Source: 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 1998. (Table 5.)

Of the 1323 vascular plant species in Luxembourg:

Regionally Extinct: 7.6%
Critically Endangered: 9.2%
Endangered: 9.4%
Vulnerable: 8.2%
Extremely Rare: 6.3%.

In total 34.4% of the vascular plant taxa of Luxembourg are estimated to be threatened or extinct (from Red List of the Vascular Plants of Luxembourg, 2005)