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Scientific Name | Encephalartos lehmannii Lehm. |
Higher Classification | Gymnosperms |
Family | ZAMIACEAE |
Common Names | Bread Palm (e), Broodboom (a), Cycad (e), Kafferbrood (a), Kafferbroodboom (a), Karoo Cycad (e), Karoo-broodboom (a) |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Vulnerable A2acd+4acd |
Assessment Date | 2020/05/29 |
Assessor(s) | J.D. Bösenberg |
Justification | Although relatively widespread and abundant, Encephalartos lehmannii has declined in some areas by 50% over the past two decades based on evidence from repeat photographs. Plants appear to be sensitive to heavy browsing by goats and mortality of adult plants is common where goats are farmed. Poaching of adult plants has been on the increase at several subpopulations and the removal of plants parts for medicinal purposes poses an additional threat. Overall, the population is thought to have declined by at least 30% in a time period well within one generation (100 years). Further extrapolation over such large time periods is difficult, and so this is treated as the minimum population reduction over three generation. Encephalartos lehmannii is, therefore, assessed as Vulnerable under criterion A. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Eastern Cape |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Suurberg Quartzite Fynbos, Sundays Arid Thicket |
Description | This species usually grows on sandstone hills and mountainsides amongst arid Karoo scrub vegetation. The climate in its distribution area is dry, with very hot summers. The rain falls mainly in summer and the annual rainfall is seldom higher than 350 mm. |
Threats |
| Drought has had an affect in the past. There have been fewer coning episodes and porcupines have damaged stems in search of food. Continuous defoliation by goats results in mortality of adult plants. In the past, some plants were lost due to over-collecting by poachers but in more recent times this threat has increased considerably (Okubamichael et al. 2016). There are also other reports of plants being removed from the wild. Collection of old leaf bases (bark) from mature stems has also been noted more (Tait 2010), and this poses the threat of the risk of infection. |
Population |
Total population size is difficult to quantify because Encephalartos lehmannii tends to occur in subpopulations of several hundred plants across its range. Once regarded as having stable subpopulation where the only threat was persistent browsing by goats, there is now a greater threat posed by illegal harvesting. This is manifest in an increasing number of arrests for illegal possession, harvesting and trading in cycads, involving at least 140 E. lehmannii plants between 2014 and 2018 (Torgersen 2017) as well as in declines of as high as 50% since the 1940s in subpopulations resampled as part of a repeat photograph study (Okubamichel et al. 2016).
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Population trend | Decreasing |
Conservation |
| Protected in two nature reserves. |
Notes |
| Seed set is infrequent but seedling regeneration has been noted in several subpopulations. |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Encephalartos lehmannii Lehm. | NT B1ab(v) | Raimondo et al. (2009) | | Encephalartos lehmannii Lehm. | Rare | Hilton-Taylor (1996) | | Encephalartos lehmannii Lehm. | Rare | Hall et al. (1980) | |
Bibliography |
Donaldson, J.S. 2003. Cycads. Status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN/SSC Cycad Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland; Cambridge, UK.
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.
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.
Kemp, M. 1985. Focus on Encephalartos lehmanii. Encephalartos 4:12-17.
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 |
| Bösenberg, J.D. 2020. Encephalartos lehmannii Lehm. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2025/04/29 |
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