Bulbostylis neglecta

Bulbostylis neglecta in bloom

Bulbostylis neglecta is a rare plant from the family of sour grass plants. It is endemic to St. Helena and was 1806-2008 only known from Lektotypus, which was collected by William John Burchell.

Features

Bulbostylis neglecta is an annual grass species, which reaches stature heights from 2.5 to 10 inches and small tufts. The five -inch-long leaves are wrapped and hairy at the base. The inflorescence consists of one to three spikelets in a narrow terminal flower head. The brown glumes are keeled and have five distinct nerves. It blooms in July.

Rediscovery and hazard

In July 1806 William John Burchell discovered the species on dry sites in the area of High Knoll fort in the northwest of St. Helena. Thereafter, they were thought to be extinct for over 200 years, to about 4,000 copies in May 2008 by a team of the South Atlantic Invasive Species Project of the European Union in a secluded spot at High Hill were rediscovered in the west of the island. Experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew subsequently confirmed that it is indeed the kind of believed lost. At the same time conservationists raised the alarm as the invasive African grass species Pennisetum setaceum uncontrolled spread in the region and could contribute within ten years a renewed disappearance of Bulbostylis neglecta.