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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

member of the

Cyperaceae The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' w ...

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

.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 Ke ...

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 auth ...

Philip Lambdon and Andrew Darlow of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

South Atlantic Invasive Species Project The South Atlantic Invasive Species Project is a three-year project (December 2006 - December 2009) funded under the European Union EDF 9. The purpose of the project is to increase the capacity of the UK's South Atlantic Overseas Territories to de ...

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 perennial bunch grass that is native to open, scrubby habitats in East Africa, tropical Africa, the Middle East and south-western Asia. It has been introduced to many part ...

''.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 {{Cyperaceae-stub