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Scientific Name | Haemanthus pumilio Jacq. |
Higher Classification | Monocotyledons |
Family | AMARYLLIDACEAE |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Critically Endangered A1ac+4ac; C1+2a(ii) |
Assessment Date | 2023/02/08 |
Assessor(s) | D.A. Snijman, D. Raimondo, D. Kirkwood & I. Ebrahim |
Justification | This species has a restricted distribution, with an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 227 km² and an area of occupancy of 40 km². The majority of its former habitat has been transformed for crop cultivation and housing developments. It is known from four severely fragmented subpopulations. The population that currently totals between 50 and 150 mature individuals has declined by 90% since 1980 and is projected to decline by a further 50% over the next 20 years (generation length 20 years). No remaining subpopulation has more than 50 mature individuals. The population is declining due to the ongoing impacts of habitat fragmentation including exclusion of fire, predation by pests, lack of pollination, and competition from invasive alien species. It is therefore listed as Critically Endangered under criteria A and C. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Western Cape |
Range | This species is restricted to the Western Cape Province, South Africa, where it occurs between Hermon and Stellenbosch. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Swartland Shale Renosterveld, Boland Granite Fynbos, Swartland Alluvium Fynbos |
Description | Plants are found in renosterveld, in heavy soils on seasonally waterlogged clay flats. |
Threats |
| Over 90% of this species' former habitat has been lost to crop cultivation and housing developments. It now remains in small isolated renosterveld fragments and is declining due to lack of fire, predation by rodents and locusts, lack of pollination and competition with invasive alien plants. It has also likely declined in the past due to illegal collection. |
Population |
Historically, this species has been recorded from 10 subpopulations, of which four or fewer are still extant today. Monitoring of subpopulations between 1980 and 2022 shows that the population has declined by at least 83% with a minimum of 1497 mature individuals extant in 1980 while in 2022 there are between 110 and 250 mature individuals remaining. The largest historically known subpopulation from a municipal reserve in Stellenbosch has been steadily declining in size with 1046 mature individuals recorded in 1980, between 300 and 400 in 2006 and only 50 recorded in 2022. This subpopulation also has poor recruitment with only two seed capsules recorded for the entire reserve in 2022. A small subpopulation, with fewer than 10 plants, were recorded to occur in the year 1999 on what is now a Contract Nature Reserve, in 2023 60 plants were recorded here from two isolated subpopulations, one with 40 mature individuals and another with 20. A subpopulation from Newton Wellington Commonage was lost due to low cost housing development between 2015 and 2020. There are two other remnant subpopulations, one on a road verge of a national highway and a second on a wine farm close to Stellenbosch. Both have fewer than 50 plants. A species recovery project is underway managed by the University of Stellenbosch Botanic Garden.
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Population trend | Decreasing |
Conservation |
| It is conserved in Duthie Nature Reserve and Elandsberg Private Nature Reserve. |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Haemanthus pumilio Jacq. | EN A2ab; C1 | Raimondo et al. (2009) | | Haemanthus pumilio Jacq. | EN A1acdC1 | Victor (2002) | | Haemanthus pumilio Jacq. | Endangered | Hilton-Taylor (1996) | |
Bibliography |
Goldblatt, P. and Manning, J.C. 2000. Cape Plants: A conspectus of the Cape Flora of South Africa. Strelitzia 9. National Botanical Institute, Cape Town.
Hilton-Taylor, C. 1996. Red data list of southern African plants. Strelitzia 4. South African National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
Raimondo, D., von Staden, L., Foden, W., Victor, J.E., Helme, N.A., Turner, R.C., Kamundi, D.A. and Manyama, P.A. 2009. Red List of South African Plants. Strelitzia 25. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.
Smuts, L.M. 1995. Fact Sheet: Haemanthus pumilio. Information System for Endangered Plants (ISEP). Cape Nature Conservation.
Snijman, D.A. 1984. A revision of the genus Haemanthus L. (Amaryllidaceae). Journal of South African Botany Supplement 12:1-139.
Summerfield, A.M. and van der Walt, J.J.A. 1992. Why is Haemanthus pumilo a rare and endangered species. Veld & Flora 78(4):107-109.
Victor, J.E. 2002. South Africa. In: J.S. Golding (ed), Southern African plant Red Data Lists. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report 14 (pp. 93-120), SABONET, Pretoria.
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Citation |
| Snijman, D.A., Raimondo, D., Kirkwood, D. & Ebrahim, I. 2023. Haemanthus pumilio Jacq. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/07/02 |
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