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Scientific Name | Marasmodes macrocephala S.Ortiz |
Higher Classification | Dicotyledons |
Family | ASTERACEAE |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Critically Endangered C2a(ii) |
Assessment Date | 2016/05/19 |
Assessor(s) | R. Koopman, I. Ebrahim, A.R. Magee & L. von Staden |
Justification | Two small subpopulations are known to remain, at two locations on the urban edge of Wolseley. More than 90% of the remaining population occurs in the largest subpopulation, which consists of about 200 mature individuals. It continues to decline due to ongoing habitat degradation as well as competition from alien invasive plants. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Western Cape |
Range | Wolseley to the Hex River Valley near De Doorns. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Breede Alluvium Fynbos |
Description | Seasonally wet places on alluvial flats. |
Threats |
| This species is by now quite likely locally extinct due to habitat loss to vineyards in the Hex River Valley. It was possibly formerly more widespread in the Breede River Valley, but there are no specimen records to confirm this. If it did occur more widespread, it is likely to have lost most of its habitat to vineyards in the Breede River Valley as well. The only known remaining subpopulations are both threatened by competition from alien invasive plants and habitat loss to urban expansion. |
Population |
This rare, poorly known and easily overlooked species was previously known only from the type collection from the Hex River Valley, dating from more than 100 years ago. It is possibly now locally extinct in this area, but remaining Alluvium Fynbos fragments need to be surveyed to confirm this. In 2010, a second subpopulation was discovered in a small fragment of similar habitat in the Breede River Valley on the urban edge of Wolseley, and in 2013, another small subpopulation was found about 2 km away, on the opposite side of Wolseley, indicating that this species may be more widespread in the Breede River Valley. Critically little Breede Alluvium Fynbos however remains intact, and it is unlikely that many other subpopulations exist. The largest subpopulation on the Wolseley commonage burnt in 2013, and all mature individuals were killed in the fire. By the following year the subpopulation had regenerated, and the population size was estimated to be less than 200 plants. The subpopulation near the Wolseley cemetery consists of about 15 plants.
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Population trend | Decreasing |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Marasmodes macrocephala S.Ortiz | CR C2a(ii) | 2017.1 | | Marasmodes macrocephala S.Ortiz | Data Deficient | 2012.1 | |
Bibliography |
Manning, J.C. and Goldblatt, P. 2012. Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region 1: The Core Cape Flora. Strelitzia 29. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.
Ortiz, S. 2009. Eight new species of Marasmodes (Asteraceae, Anthemideae) from South Africa. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 159:330-342.
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Citation |
| Koopman, R., Ebrahim, I., Magee, A.R. & von Staden, L. 2016. Marasmodes macrocephala S.Ortiz. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/04/13 |
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