|
Scientific Name | Lactuca dregeana DC. |
Higher Classification | Dicotyledons |
Family | ASTERACEAE |
Common Names | Melkdissel (a), Slaaidissel (a), Wild Lettuce (e), Wildeslaai (a) |
National Status |
Status and Criteria | Data Deficient - Insufficient Information |
Assessment Date | 2021/03/19 |
Assessor(s) | J.C. Manning, Z.O. van Herwijnen & H. Mtshali |
Justification | This species was widely distributed, but recent field surveys shows that it has become progressively rarer. It is possibly threatened by habitat transformation and hybridization with morphologically similar species, but there is insufficinet information to quantify the degree of population decline. Therefore its risk of extinction cannot be assessed at present and it is listed as Data Deficient. |
Distribution |
Endemism | South African endemic |
Provincial distribution | Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape |
Range | Historical records show that it was widely distributed in the Free State, Western and Eastern Cape provinces, but recent extensive surveys done failed to locate it anywhere in the wild except in the Northern Cape, near Calvinia and Leliefontein. |
Habitat and Ecology |
Major system | Terrestrial |
Major habitats | Succulent Karoo |
Description | It is confined to seasonally or perennially damp places in vleis or along streams. |
Threats |
| This species is thought to be disappearing due to habitat transformation. Hybridization with the morphologically similar L. serriola species has also been hypothesized on the basis of individuals of intermediate appearance between the two species at localities where they co-occur. There is also a possibility that L. dregeana has been displaced by L. serriola from much of its previous wetland habitat and that the species has become rarer (van Herwijnen and Manning, 2017).
. |
Population |
Extensive field work and herbarium revisions show that this species has been rarely recorded recently. Although this species has been collected widely across the country in the past, it is currently known from three localities in the Northern and Western Cape, despite extensive searching across its known distribution.
This habitat specialist is rare. Plants in the Northern Cape, near Calvinia and near Leliefontein on the Kamiesberg were successfully located by van Herwijen and Manning (2017) during their extensive field survey. A dozen of individuals were found at Leliefontein.
|
Population trend | Unknown |
Assessment History |
Taxon assessed |
Status and Criteria |
Citation/Red List version | | Lactuca dregeana DC. | Least Concern | Raimondo et al. (2009) | |
Bibliography |
Raimondo, D., von Staden, L., Foden, W., Victor, J.E., Helme, N.A., Turner, R.C., Kamundi, D.A. and Manyama, P.A. 2009. Red List of South African Plants. Strelitzia 25. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.
Sochor, M., Manning, J.C., Šarhanová, P., van Herwijnen, Z., Lebeda, A. and Doležalová, I. 2020. Lactuca dregeana DC. (Asteraceae: Chicorieae) – A South African crop relative under threat from hybridization and climate change. South African Journal of Botany 132:146-154.
van Herwijnen, Z.O. and Manning, J.C. 2017. A review of the history and taxonomy of the enigmatic southern African endemic wild lettuce Lactuca dregeana DC. (Asteraceae: Lactuceae: Lactucinae). South African Journal of Botany 108:352-358.
|
Citation |
| Manning, J.C., van Herwijnen, Z.O. & Mtshali, H. 2021. Lactuca dregeana DC. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version . Accessed on 2024/12/07 |
Comment on this assessment
