GREW Target Species – City Nature Challenge 2023 for Pietermaritzburg
This year, CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers) turns 20 years old. With 20 years of data, it is now possible to identify threatened species that require special intervention. Some 263 species are identified as highest priority, but our botanical gardens do not have the capacity to aid in the recovery of all these species. Think of Erica verticillata, where the recovery process has spanned since the 1980s up until now – and still requires another burn on sites like Rondevlei, and two burns on Kenilworth Racecourse and Tokai, before it can be uplisted from “Extinct in the Wild” to “Critically Endangered”: nearly 45 plus years of work! At the latest online quarterly CREW workshop, the GREW (Growers of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers) model was presented, whereby private growers and specialists are called upon to aid in species recovery of our threatened species.
But we still need more data. We have identified GREW priority species suitable for targeting during the City Nature Challenge from 28th April to 1st May. These are the ones that occur in your region. When uploading observations of these species, it is imperative to add them to the Redlist (s Afr) Project and fill in all the relevant information on populations and threats.
Please help us save these species. And enjoy the quest of finding and documenting them!
GREW Target Species – City Nature Challenge 2023 for Pietermaritzburg
- Asclepias bicuspis - CR
- Brachystelma natalense - CR
- Riocreuxia flanaganii - CR
