Taxonomy
Scientific Name
Disa macrostachya (Lindl.) Bolus
Higher Classification
Monocotyledons
Family
ORCHIDACEAE
Synonyms
Monadenia macrostachya Lindl.
National Status
Status and Criteria
Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii); C2a(i); D
Assessment Date
2012/09/02
Assessor(s)
W.R. Liltved, N.A. Helme & L. von Staden
Justification
EOO 11 km², three subpopulations, two consisting of around 50 mature individuals, and the other 100, are threatened by heavy grazing and trampling.
Distribution
Endemism
South African endemic
Provincial distribution
Northern Cape
Range
Namaqualand, Kamiesberg.
Habitat and Ecology
Major system
Terrestrial
Major habitats
Kamiesberg Granite Fynbos
Description
Shallow, moist soils, on granite ledges beside ephemeral streams, northeast-facing slopes.
Threats
Threatened by ongoing heavy grazing and trampling by livestock, and potentially affected by drought, a lack of fire and habitat degradation as a result of recreational 4x4 driving.
Population

Linder (1981) noted that when he collected this species in 1977, the small population had been heavily grazed by sheep. Linder (1999) reported seeing only five plants afer visits to the population in the 1990s, but in 2004-2005 50-60 plants were recorded shortly after a fire. It appears that although the species flowers for several years after fire, it becomes dormant when the surrounding vegetation becomes too dense. The impact of heavy grazing on this species is not well understood, but it appears to have survived at least 30 years of ongoing heavy grazing and trampling. A second subpopulation of about 100 mature individuals was found in 2008 in heavily grazed communal lands near Leliefontein, after the species had last been recorded in this area in 1980.


Population trend
Decreasing
Assessment History
Taxon assessed
Status and Criteria
Citation/Red List version
Disa macrostachya (Lindl.) BolusCR B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii); C2a(i,ii); D2012.1
Disa macrostachya (Lindl.) BolusCR B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii); C2a(i,ii); DRaimondo et al. (2009)
Disa macrostachya (Lindl.) BolusVU D2Victor (2002)
Monadenia macrostachya Lindl.Vulnerable Hilton-Taylor (1996)
Monadenia macrostachya Lindl.Endangered Hall et al. (1980)
Bibliography

Bytebier, B., Bellstedt, D.U. and Linder, H.P. 2008. A new phylogeny-based sectional classification for the large African orchid genus Disa. Taxon 57(4):1233-1251.


Hall, A.V., De Winter, M., De Winter, B. and Van Oosterhout, S.A.M. 1980. Threatened plants of southern Africa. South African National Scienctific Programmes Report 45. CSIR, Pretoria.


Hilton-Taylor, C. 1996. Red data list of southern African plants. Strelitzia 4. South African National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.


Liltved, W.R. and Johnson, S.D. Unpublished. The Cape Orchids - Wild orchids of the Cape Floral Kingdom.


Linder, H.P. 1981. Taxonomic studies in the Disinae. V. A revision of the genus Monadenia. Bothalia 13(3&4):339-363.


Linder, H.P. 1999. Disa. In: H.P. Linder and H. Kurzweil (eds.), Orchids of southern Africa (pp. 187-288), A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.


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.


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.


Citation
Liltved, W.R., Helme, N.A. & von Staden, L. 2012. Disa macrostachya (Lindl.) Bolus. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/04/14

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Distribution map


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