Lachenalia martleyi, G. D. Duncan, 2012

Rediscovery of Lachenalia martleyi View in CoL

Material of Lachenalia martleyi G.D. Duncan (2012: 270) was first collected at Lourensford Farm in Somerset West east of Cape Town in October 1929, and in September 1935, a cultivated specimen of unrecorded origin flowered in cultivation in a Stellenbosch garden. These collections formed the basis for the species, which was published in the monograph The genus Lachenalia ( Duncan 2012) .

Since no collections appeared to have been made since 1935, the species was assessed as critically endangered (possibly extinct) in the Red List of South African Plants ( von Staden & Duncan 2014). Subsequently, an overlooked, unnamed collection in the Compton Herbarium at Kirstenbosch, made by M. L. Thomas ( Thomas s.n. in NBG) on 3 September 1975 near the Theewaterskloof Dam between Grabouw and Villiersdorp was noted by the author in 2013 and identified as L. martleyi . In September 2014, an expedition to the site was undertaken by the author and Elgin residents Peter and Barbara Knox-Shaw, where a small population was found in flower at the exact location where it had been collected by Thomas in 1975 ( Duncan 651, NBG). The plants were found in moist stony clay in semi-shade of exotic pines, in remnant Elgin Shale Fynbos ( Mucina & Rutherford 2006). Due to the degraded nature of the habitat, lack of official protection and total known population of less than 1000 individuals, its conservation status should be re-assessed as critically endangered.