Home
Mission
Overview of Project
Project Staff
Sponsors
Achievements
Checking, Illustrations
Upcoming Activities
Id and Species Lists
Protea Information
Protea Gallery
Growing Proteas
Interim Dist. Maps
Publications
Afrikaanse Inligting
A Range Extension for So scabridus
Kitty and Austen Williams have done it yet again! Tulbagh Clusterhead - So scabridus is one of those really rare species - it is only known from Kliphuis and Sneeugat! However, the Sneeugat population has not been seen for over 50 years. The plants from this population are much bigger than those from Kliphuis. Unfortunately, this area is burned and it is unlikely that atlassers will relocate these populations before the project finishes.
Now thanks to Kitty it is also known from the rugged terrain north of Kliphuis (still in the GrootWinterhoek Wilderness Area). Although this is only a range extension of 5 km, it is a very significant range increase for this species, and for the historically known Kliphuis population (which extends for 300 m only).
In verifying the records, we have also found a few scattered plants in the area between Kitty’s plants and the original population. This means that So scabridus at Kliphuis does not have all its "eggs" in one seep. Kitty found populations over an area of over 3 km, which is good news indeed.
Tony Rebelo
Back PAN 48