|
Scientific Name | Heliophila ephemera P.A.Bean |
Higher Classification | Dicotyledons |
Family | BRASSICACEAE |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Vulnerable D1 |
Assessment Date | 2007/06/04 |
Assessor(s) | N.A. Helme & D. Raimondo |
Justification | Known only from one subpopulation, estimated by Bean (1990) to comprise of 200 plants. Conservatively, we suspect that there are fewer than 1000 plants. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Western Cape |
Range | Swartberg Mountains. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Swartberg Altimontane Sandstone Fynbos, North Swartberg Sandstone Fynbos |
Description | Montane fynbos on upper sandstone slopes. |
Threats |
| No known threats. |
Population |
Only one quite dense population of Heliophila ephemera, estimated at perhaps 200 plants, was found at high altitude on the Swartberg Mountains growing in shallow, rocky sand on a gentle southerly slope. Two years later, no trace of the plants could be found. Consequently, it would seem as if H. ephemera, as the specific epithet proclaims, appears only in the first year or two after a veld fire. Much of the biology of the plant remains unresolved (Bean 1990). It has not been found anywhere else despite surveys (J.H. Vlok pers. comm.).
|
Population trend | Stable |
Conservation |
| Protected in the Groot Swartberg Nature Reserve. |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Heliophila ephemera P.A.Bean | VU D1 | Raimondo et al. (2009) | |
Bibliography |
Bean, P.A. 1990. The unusual newly discovered Heliophila ephemera from the southern Cape, and its position in the family Brassicaceae. South African Journal of Botany 56(6):670-674.
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.
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.
|
Citation |
| Helme, N.A. & Raimondo, D. 2007. Heliophila ephemera P.A.Bean. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/04/13 |
Comment on this assessment
