Threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism, South Africa

Abstract

We present Red List assessments of threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. We evaluated the status of taxa using categories and criteria adopted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 1994 and updated in 2001. In total, 126 taxa are threatened with extinction in the Albany Centre, and six are now extinct. A further 22 are listed as Data Deficient. In the past, agriculture has been a severe threat to the survival of rare species in this part of the Eastern Cape; the main threats to the continuing existence of threatened plants in this area are illegal collecting, residential development and urban growth.