Monday, 21 September 2015

A special find

Thanks to the sharp eyes of Mervyn T, we were alerted to the presence of an unusual plant growing near Port Edward. On visiting the site, we determined that this was likely to be the parasitic plant Hyobanche fulleri, Red Listed as critically endangered. To date, the plant was known from only three populations with a distribution along the coast from Durban southwards to Port Shepstone.

 Our CREW group have previously made a number of attempts to find this plant in our area, but all have been unsuccessful.

 However, this time, success! There were two groups of plants, possibly parasitising the same host plant (Osteospermum moniliferum - previously known as Chrysanthemoides  monilifera), with a total of nearly 40 individual inflorescenses at various stages of development.

 This find represents a range extension of about 45 km, and adds another population to the SANBI Red List database. 



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7 comments:

  1. Unknown21 September 2015 at 09:27

    Correction... Hyobanche listed as Critically Endangered but this wonderful find has increased the known localities yet again - to 4 known localities :-)

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    1. Graham G21 September 2015 at 10:49

      Thanks Suvarna,
      I misinterpreted the abbreviation CR. I have corrected the text above.

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  2. Unknown21 September 2015 at 10:46

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. Support21 September 2015 at 13:56

    I've seen this plant in the Garden Route - is it known to occur there as well, or is that another Hyobanche sp.?

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    1. Graham G21 September 2015 at 15:09

      Hyobanche fulleri was until we found our plants, only known as far south as Port Shepstone, so, while not impossible, the plant you saw is more likely to be another species of Hyobanche. The SANBI Red List refers to 8 species found in SA, four of which have been recorded in the southern Cape. These are H. calvescens, H. glabrata, H. rubra and H. sanguinea. It is most likely to be one of these, but I am not very familiar with that part of the coast and therefore cannot be more helpful. Next time you see something like this try posting photos on iSpot (see on the left for a link) and you will probably be given an ID.

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  4. Andi Wolfe23 December 2016 at 16:57

    Actually, my taxonomic study (I'm revising the genus Hyobanche) reveals a much larger distribution for the species - as far west as Cape Town. There's a lot of variation across the range, but my morphometrics and molecular data show that Hyobanche fulleri is a coast species with a distribution from Kwazulu-Natal to the Western Cape.

    Andi Wolfe, Dept of EEOB, Ohio State University

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    1. Graham G24 December 2016 at 07:10

      Thanks Andi,

      We will certainly get back to you when we get to the issue of distribution of the species when we start with the revision of Elsa Pooley's "Wild Flowers" book.

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