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Scientific Name | Moraea quartzicola Goldblatt & J.C.Manning |
Higher Classification | Monocotyledons |
Family | IRIDACEAE |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Vulnerable D2 |
Assessment Date | 2016/11/01 |
Assessor(s) | L. von Staden |
Justification | A rare and localized habitat specialist, known from two locations and potentially threatened by habitat loss. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Western Cape |
Range | Flats below Vanrhyns Pass and the Matsikamma Mountains east of Vanrhynsdorp. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Vanrhynsdorp Gannabosveld, Namaqualand Riviere |
Description | Flats and gentle slopes with clay-loam soils covered in quartz pebbles. |
Threats |
| There are currently no severe threats to the population. It is however potentially threatened by habitat loss to agricultural expansion and mining, which is likely to significantly increase this species' risk of extinction, should it impact the highly localized population. |
Population |
Moraea quartzicola is a rare and poorly known species. It was only recently separated from the widespread and common Moraea saxicola (Goldblatt and Manning 2014), and therefore it may be overlooked and possibly more common than records suggest. Currently, it is known from several collections from quartz hills near the foot of Vanrhyns Pass. An old collection with an imprecise locality description suggests it may occur further south along the foot of the Bokkeveld Escarpment and Matsikamma Mountains as far as Klawer.
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Population trend | Stable |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Moraea quartzicola Goldblatt & J.C.Manning | VU D2 | 2017.1 | |
Bibliography |
Goldblatt, P. and Manning, J.C. 2014. Taxonomy of the Moraea saxicola complex (Iridaceae: Iridoideae) of arid, western southern Africa, with the new species, M. acocksii, M. geminifolia, M. quartzicola and M. teretifolia. South African Journal of Botany 91:75-83.
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Citation |
| von Staden, L. 2016. Moraea quartzicola Goldblatt & J.C.Manning. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/05/09 |
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