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Afrikaanse Inligting
How safe are Proteaceae from Atlassers?
A comment on the wily collector and his depredation. Many years ago, before I
had even heard of Fynbos, I met Phillip van der Merve at a Bushveld Working
Group. He told me a fascinating tale of the Marsh Rose Orothamnus zeyheri. Among
other things, he described the use of fencing and even a guard to keep
collectors out of (what was then thought to be) the one last remaining
population of this spectacular species. When people did get in they trampled the
marshy soils, leading, he said, to the death of the plants. Whether the
collector simply wants an illicit flower (e.g. Mimetes chrysanthus Golden
Pagoda) or a handful of otherwise unobtainable seed, I do not see that
Proteaceae will escape damage. I would suggest that species in boggy habitats
are particularly sensitive and should be approached carefully: only the perifery
of such colonies should be inspected.
Species in sensitive habitats or species surviving as very small populations need particular care in terms of confidentiality.
William Bond, Univ. of Cape Town
The organizers of the atlas agree with William. The "case of the Marsh Rose" is summarized below, because it is so interesting. However, confidentiality is a two-edged sword! The account of the demise of the Mace Pagoda Mimetes stokoei illustrates this very well. Eds
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