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Scientific Name | Wiborgiella bowieana (Benth.) Boatwr. & B.-E.van Wyk |
Higher Classification | Dicotyledons |
Family | FABACEAE |
Synonyms | Lebeckia bowieana Benth. |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Critically Endangered A2bc; B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) |
Assessment Date | 2011/10/20 |
Assessor(s) | A.L. Schutte-Vlok & D. Raimondo |
Justification | A population reduction of >80% is estimated based on habitat loss to wheat cultivation over the past 80 years (generation length at least 50 years), only two small, severely fragmented subpopulations remain, both consisting of fewer than 100 mature individuals. EOO 35 km², and plants continue to decline due to ongoing habitat loss to crop cultivation and degradation as a result of overgrazing. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Western Cape |
Range | Robertson to Riversdale and Bredasdorp. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Breede Shale Renosterveld, Eastern Ruens Shale Renosterveld, Central Ruens Shale Renosterveld, Cape Lowland Alluvial Vegetation |
Description | Renosterveld in rocky shale outcrops. |
Threats |
| Renosterveld in the Overberg is extensively transformed for wheat cultivation, with only small fragments remaining. The majority of the transformation took place in the 1950s and 1960s, and continues sporadically. Small fragments of natural vegetation between crop fields are used for grazing of livestock, but are often overstocked. The two remaining subpopulations are both heavily grazed. |
Population |
Wiborgiella bowieana is an extremely rare species, known from only a few collections. Older collections indicate a wide range (± 4 000 km²) across the Overberg, but renosterveld in this area has been more than 80% transformed for crop cultivation, and currently only two small subpopulations remain within an area of 35 km² between Bredasdorp, Swellendam and Riversdale. Plants are confined to small fragments surrounded by crop fields, one subpopulation consists of fewer than 100 plants, the other has less than 10.
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Population trend | Decreasing |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Lebeckia bowieana Benth. | CR A2bc; C2a(i); D | Raimondo et al. (2009) | | Lebeckia bowieana Benth. | Insufficiently Known | Hilton-Taylor (1996) | |
Bibliography |
Boatwright, J.S., Tilney, P.M. and Van Wyk, B.E. 2010. Taxonomy of Wiborgiella (Crotalarieae, Fabaceae), a genus endemic to the greater Cape Region of South Africa. Systematic Botany 35(2):325-340.
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.
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Citation |
| Schutte-Vlok, A.L. & Raimondo, D. 2011. Wiborgiella bowieana (Benth.) Boatwr. & B.-E.van Wyk. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/08/01 |
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