''Bulbostylis neglecta'', neglected tuft sedge locally, is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

member of the

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> ''Bulbostylis neglecta'' was first collected by

William John Burchell __NOTOC__ William John Burchell (23 July 1781 – 23 March 1863) was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist, and author. His thousands of plant specimens, as well as field journals from his South African expedition, are held by Kew ...

in 1806, although the specimen was not described as a new species until 1884. Since then, it had not been recorded again and was presumed extinct until, in May, 2008, during a botanical survey of St Helena, a small population of the sedge was rediscovered by

botanists This is a list of botanists who have Wikipedia articles, in alphabetical order by surname. The List of botanists by author abbreviation is mostly a list of plant taxonomists because an author receives a standard abbreviation only when that aut ...

Philip Lambdon and Andrew Darlow of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's South Atlantic Invasive Species Project and by local naturalist Pat Joshua. Subsequent work by the project team located five distinct populations totalling about 4000 plants. The rediscovery is timely as the existing populations are being encroached on by an invasive African fountain grass ''

Pennisetum setaceum ''Cenchrus setaceus'', commonly known as crimson fountaingrass, is a C4 carbon fixation, C4 Perennial plant, perennial bunch grass that is native to open, scrubby habitats in East Africa, tropical Africa, the Middle East and south-western Asia. ...

''.Lambdon, Phil, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, United Kingdom Overseas Environment Protection Programme, St Helena
/ref>

References

External links

neglecta Flora of Saint Helena Plants described in 1884 Endangered plants Taxa named by William Hemsley (botanist) {{Cyperaceae-stub