NEW DISCOVERIES
Amateur botanist uncovers rare plant species
Karen Watkins
Current Address : Constantiaberg Bulletin Reprinted from : https :// bit . ly / 3IYiP1K
A
plant , possibly only last seen many decades ago in Cape Town , has been identified in the Kirstenhof greenbelt .
The plant , found and photographed by amateur botanist and Friends of Kirstenhof Wetland member Tim Kirsten , was identified as the longleaf fountain bush ( Psoralea filifolia ) on Wednesday , March 23 .
However , concern has been raised about the wholesale clearing of the river vegetation in the greenbelt near Oranje Road in Kirstenhof where the plant was found .
Psoralea filifolia is in flower between November and March and grows along riverbanks and seepages .
Mr Kirsten , who has lived in Kirstenhof all his life and walks the local greenbelts most days , first noticed the plant in 2020 and took photos of it in flower in November 2021 .
It was originally misidentified as Psoralea pinnata on the iNaturalist app .
Last month , he took better photos that were positively identified on iNaturalist by professors Charles Stirton and Tony Rebelo .
On Thursday , March 31 , researchers working for the SA National Biodiversity Institute ( SANBI ) and Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers ( CREW ) – a citizen-science initiative that involves members of the public in the surveying , monitoring and conservation of plants – collected a small cutting for the Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch and for Sanbi and UCT . Professor Muthama Muasya , of UCT ’ s department of biological sciences , performed the molecular / genetic analysis on the plant .
Professor Stirton said Psoralea filifolia was thought to be locally extinct on the greater Cape Flats . “ The last time this species was officially recorded on the Cape Flats , including Kirstenhof , was in the 1830s , despite botanists having searched extensively for it since . There are still small populations elsewhere in the Western Cape , but these are also threatened as the species is confined to riverbanks and seepages .”
Louise Kinrade , who has the “ green ” portfolio on the Kirstenhof and Environs Ratepayers ’ Association , fears that the Psoraleas are at risk of being pulled out and sent to the compost dump by the City ’ s alien invasive removal team , which , along with a contractor , is working in sections of the Keyser and Westlake rivers clearing aliens and typha reeds as part of the annual winter preparedness and anti-flooding programme .
“ Last year , we had contractors further downstream in the reed bed supposedly only removing bramble and Madeira vine and who , for whatever reason , hacked our indigenous Salix willow and left the Australian cherry standing right next to it intact ,” she said .
However , ward councillor Carolynne Franklin said she had made sure that the clearing teams had been “ sensitised to the necessity of retaining the indigenous plants alongside the banks ”.
Mr Kirsten said he was very excited about the find . “ How amazing that this species could have survived in the seed bank for decades or as seedlings that no one who knew them well enough to identify managed to see . And that my hobby of taking photos and recording biodiversity on the greenbelt might lead to conservation action for an endangered species ,” he said .
Figure 2 . Longleaf fountainbush ( Psoralea filifolia ) was thought to be locally extinct on the Cape Flats .
Figure 1 . Friends of Kirstenhof Wetland members , from left , Tim Kirsten , Louise Kinrade and Jean Fillis .
51 Grassroots Vol 22 No 2 July 2022