Lachenalia martleyi, G. D. Duncan, 2012

Duncan, Graham D., 2017, Two new species, two rediscoveries and a range extension in Lachenalia (Asparagaceae: Scilloideae) from southern and western South Africa, Phytotaxa 316 (3), pp. 261-270 : 269

Rediscovery of Lachenalia martleyi

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.