• National statistics
• Provincial statistics
• Biome statistics

National statistics

Nearly a quarter of the South African flora is considered either threatened with extinction or of conservation concern.

The total number of plant taxa listed nationally in each Red List category.

Major threats to the South African flora are identified in terms of the number of plant taxa Red-Listed as threatened with extinction as a result of each threat. Habitat loss, which includes the irreversible conversion of natural vegetation for infrastructure development, urban expansion, crop cultivation, timber plantations and mines is by far the most severe threat to South African plants, affecting more than 1600 taxa. Invasive alien plant species outcompeting indigenous plant species is another severe threat. Habitat degradation includes threats such as overgrazing, inappropriate fire management (which may be either too frequent, too infrequent or out of season fires) and clearing of woody shrubs and trees from forests and savannas. These threats may appear to leave natural vegetation intact, but causes a disturbance and breakdown of essential ecosystem processes, resulting in the loss of sensitive species. Harvesting is the unsustainable, destructive removal of plants and plant material such as tree bark for local and international trade (medicinal as well as ornamental) as well as for materials for construction and crafts. Demographic factors include species that are threatened as a result of high risk population dynamics such as small population size, poor breeding success, and skewed male-female ratios. Pollution indicates species that are threatened by water, land or air pollution, typically species affected by harmful industrial and agricultural chemicals such as fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Changes in species dynamics indicate species that are threatened as a result of disturbances of the natural interactions of native species such as the loss of pollinators or dispersers. Often severe habitat disturbance may give a few native species a competitive advantage, and they then act in the same way as alien invasive plants, outcompeting and replacing other sensitive native species. Climate change has been identified as a threat to only a small number of plants, particularly because the potential impact of climate change on different species is not well understood and not easy to predict. Natural disasters include threats such as droughts and floods.

Where do most species of conservation concern occur?

A map of South Africa, showing areas of high concentrations of taxa of conservation concern.

Provincial statistics

Province	Size (km2)	% Transformed	Total number of taxa	Endemic taxa	% of SA flora occurring in province	Threatened taxa	Endemic threatened taxa	% of national threatened flora	Taxa of conservation concern	Endemic taxa of conservation concern
Eastern Cape	170056	17	6155	1031	27.1	306	172	9.8	640	360
Free State	130838	37	2393	23	10.5	9	2	0.3	42	6
Gauteng	16748	56	2143	23	9.4	26	7	0.8	49	9
KwaZulu-Natal	96452	39	5233	418	23.1	268	136	8.6	502	221
Limpopo	127947	21	3957	199	17.4	111	59	3.5	220	110
Mpumalanga	78115	40	4230	184	18.6	142	72	4.5	259	104
North West	107018	31	2059	13	9.1	23	8	0.7	40	8
Northern Cape	372950	5	4921	1209	21.7	555	386	17.7	964	632
Western Cape	129441	22	10744	6541	47.4	2003	1867	64	3457	3131

Number of taxa listed per Red List category for each province

Province	EX	EW	RE	CR PE	CR	EN	VU	NT	Critically Rare	Rare	DDD	DDT
Eastern Cape	5	0	0	12	28	84	183	92	17	144	83	154
Free State	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	12	1	12	8	22
Gauteng	1	0	0	3	3	3	17	17	0	3	3	22
KwaZulu-Natal	3	1	0	7	24	80	157	71	9	121	34	51
Limpopo	0	2	0	2	21	27	61	36	8	43	20	30
Mpumalanga	1	1	0	1	11	33	98	44	2	46	24	44
North West	0	0	0	3	2	5	13	12	0	3	2	10
Northern Cape	0	1	0	6	118	151	286	103	16	216	77	148
Western Cape	18	3	0	40	297	688	981	386	110	744	211	553

Biome statistics

Biome	Size (km2)	% Protected	% Transformed	Total number of taxa	Endemic taxa	Threatened taxa	Endemic threatened taxa	Taxa of conservation concern	Endemic taxa of conservation concern
Albany Thicket	35250	11.9	9	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	116	40	209	71
Desert	6260	30.3	1	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	127	16	176	22
Forest	4815	40.8	18	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	122	32	223	65
Fynbos	81445	22.7	31	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	2005	1798	3481	3137
Grassland	365629	4.5	39	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	289	153	579	315
IOCB	1530	7.1	64	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	108	37	165	50
Nama Karoo	249354	1.6	2	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	54	17	118	55
Savanna	407072	13.4	19	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	265	106	441	181
Succulent Karoo	78203	7.8	5	Data not yet available	Data not yet available	615	352	954	562

Citation

SANBI. . Statistics: Red List of South African Plants version . Downloaded from Redlist.sanbi.org on 2025/02/11.