A long-lost plant, Prismatocarpus fastigiatus, which has been “missing” for close to 200 years, has been rediscovered in the Nieuwoudtville area in the Northern Cape. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says this is evidence of the richness of South Africa’s botanical heritage.
The plant was last collected and described by a German horticulturist and botanical collector, Johann Franz Drège, in 1830 and then not seen again, it said. Because of this, botanists believed the plant was exceedingly rare or extinct.
“That is until biodiversity officer JP le Roux recently stumbled across it on a site about 12km south of Nieuwoudtville on the Bokkeveld Plateau and posted a picture on iNaturalist, where fellow botanists were able to identify it,” said the WWF.
Le Roux works for the Northern Cape department of agriculture, environmental affairs, rural development and land reform in their stewardship programme.
Research into why P fastigiatus remained hidden for so long suggests it was originally thought to have occurred in the Caledon/Bredasdorp area of the Western Cape about 300km away, and so botanists were looking for it in the wrong place.
Now it is believed that the plant was first described in a place called Uienvalei (bulb valley) on the Bokkeveld Plateau near Nieuwoudtville.
The area burnt in 2024, so I was out looking for any unusual plants. At this time of year it’s quite unusual to find anything in flower, so when I came across this plant it immediately caught my attention as something out of the ordinary
— JP le Roux, biodiversity officer
WWF said Uienvalei is an apt name for an area famous for its many bulb species that attracts visitors from all over the world in spring and autumn.
“The fact that P fastigiatus flowers at the height of summer, when few botanists are likely to be out in the field, is another reason it may have been overlooked and underscores the importance of grassroots conservation work.”
Amateur botanist De Waal Hugo, who had been on the trail of the missing P fastigiatus, told Le Roux in an email that he suspected the location of the plant had been incorrectly captured.
Hugo has a special interest in the bellflower family (Campanulaceae) to which this plant belongs.
“It was immensely fortunate that you [found] the plants in flower and confirm[ed] the theory,” he wrote. “Hopefully, a proper assessment of the conservation status can now be undertaken and the plant appropriately protected. It is quite possibly still rare in an area that has seen a lot of habitat loss.”
Le Roux made the discovery while in the field on a property bordering the Oorlogskloof Nature Reserve, doing a general search for flowering Pelargonium species.
“The area burnt in 2024, so I was out looking for any unusual plants. At this time of year it’s quite unusual to find anything in flower, so when I came across this plant it immediately caught my attention as something out of the ordinary.
“I took photographs and uploaded the observation to iNaturalist, which is something I routinely do whenever I’m in the field. The aim is to collect as much biodiversity data as possible and make every field trip count, even when the primary focus is on something else.
“That observation then helped spark further discussion and investigation, which ultimately led to the identification of the plant as P fastigiatus.”
Le Roux’s job is to assist with the implementation of the Northern Cape protected area expansion strategy. He provides post-proclamation support to management authorities to ensure effective long-term conservation, assesses new sites for conservation potential, conducts field surveys, and does biodiversity assessments.
Much of this work is made possible through funding support from the WWF Leslie Hill Succulent Karoo Trust, whose continued investment has been critical to on-the-ground conservation efforts in the Western and Northern Cape.
TimesLIVE
Ernest Mabuza
www.timeslive.co.za
