A conservation manager made a significant discovery when he photographed a flower he believed to be a common fynbos species, belonging to the genus Moraea.
According to a report from the nonprofit organization NWSMA, this flower is actually Moraea minima, also known as the Mini Galaxy flower, which was last seen over 40 years ago and was thought to be extinct.
Moraea minima, a plant believed to be extinct discovered in South Africa.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, species are going extinct today at a rate 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural rate, and humans are the primary cause.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists over 40,000 threatened species, with more than 9,000 considered critically endangered. Concerns arose that the Mini Galaxy flower was extinct until Eugéne Hahndiek, a conservation manager at NWSMA, accidentally discovered this flower growing along a road in Africa.
At that moment, Hahndiek was unaware he had found a flower that scientists had long been searching for. He posted the photo on iNaturalist, an app used by scientists. The photo caught the attention of scientist John Manning.
Manning recognized the flower as the Mini Galaxy and informed the Conservation of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) staff about the photo.
In July 2023, a CREW team searched for the flower at the location, hoping to find it and conduct research. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. However, when they returned in August 2023, they discovered the flower in a new location.
“It seems that this special flower is quite hard to find because it is rather finicky. What we discovered is that it only blooms in the spring for a few hours after it rains. After that, the flower disappears until the next rains come. Another challenge is that these plants often grow in somewhat precarious locations, such as along road edges or in the middle of roads. That is why we need to know where they are, to plan for their protection,” Hahndiek said.
Hahndiek told Newsweek that the flower blooms in August. For the rest of the year, the flower is very difficult to identify. Now that NWSMA knows the location of the flower, they plan to include this species in their conservation efforts by eradicating invasive species and planning for fire management.
“We have informed the landowners about this species and where they appear, to ensure they understand how special they are,” Hahndiek added.
This discovery comes after the Endangered Species Act officially removed 21 species from the list for being extinct. Many other species previously thought to be extinct have also recently been rediscovered, including Ilex sapiiformis in Brazil and the white salmon in the North Sea.
Since the search for the Mini Galaxy flower began, CREW and NWSMA groups have identified two populations of this flower, which were last officially seen in 1981.
