Plants

Hlengiwe Mtshali1 , Domitilla C. Raimondo1 , Dewidine van Der Colff1 , Lize von Staden1, 2 , Nokukhanya N. Nozipho1 , Shae-Lynn E. Hendricks1 , Maphale S. Monyeki1

1. South African National Biodiversity Institute

2. Nelson Mandela University

Published

December 5, 2025

Ixia ebrahimii, a new Ixia species found by the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) team. (© Ismail Ebrahim)
17%
of 900
representative taxa
assessed
Threatened
70%
of 900
representative taxa
assessed
Well Protected
14%
of 900
representative taxa
assessed
Not Protected

Key findings

  • South Africa’s indigenous flora has high levels of diversity and endemism: 13 642 of the 20 248 taxa (67%) are endemic, with a high concentration of endemism in the south-western region of the Fynbos biome, and moderate concentrations in the arid regions, low escarpment bushveld, and coastal grasslands.

  • 1 in 5 endemic plants are at risk of extinction.

  • Trends in threat status reveal a 2% increase in the number of plants at risk of extinction between 2017 and 2024. Increases in risk of extinction are driven mainly by habitat loss, competition with invasive alien species, illegal harvesting, and the intensifying impacts of climate change.

  • Protected area expansion has improved the protection of indigenous plants, but shortcomings in protected area effectiveness are constraining progress towards plant conservation targets.

Figure 1. Threatened plant richness across South Africa, mapped as the number of threatened plants per 10 x 10 km grid cell.

Threat status

South Africa is maintaining a comprehensive national assessment of the threat status of 20 248 indigenous plants. The national plant Red List uses the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria, which measures a species’ risk of extinction within South Africa. The Red List includes several extinct categories, three threatened categories - Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) - as well as categories for Near Threatened (NT), Data Deficient (DD), and Least Concern (LC). South Africa augments the IUCN system by adding a category for rarity (Rare), defined as range-restricted endemic species with a global extent of occurrence of less than 500 km² that occur in areas with no significant anthropogenic pressures. Rare species are prioritised for national conservation interventions, even if they qualify as Least Concern under the IUCN system.

Overall, 16% (3 195 taxa) of the indigenous flora is threatened, while 36 taxa (0.2%) are extinct or possibly extinct. Threatened plants are concentrated in the the Cape Floristic Region, the Succulent Karoo and the eastern escarpment (Figure 1). South Africa also has high levels of plant endemism, with 13 648 taxa (67%) found only in South Africa.

Given the exceptional diversity and high levels of threat, monitoring and reassessing all plant species regularly is not feasible. The Red List team prioritises specific plant families or genera to assess each year. To track trends in extinction risk and identify the pressures driving these risks, a representative sample of 900 plant species is reassessed regularly for National Biodiversity Assessment. Of the assessed representative plants, 17% taxa are threatened with extinction (Figure 2). This slightly higher statistic likely reflects the actual threat level to plants, as newly updated assessments reflect major recent increases in pressures on plants such as climate change and illegal collection of wild plants for ornamental purposes. These assessments also more accurately represent intensifying pressures such as habitat loss to mining and the spread of invasive alien plants.

Figure 2. Threat status of a representative sample of 900 South African plant taxa, showing all indigenous taxa (A), compared to taxa endemic to South Africa (B).
Table 1. The number of South African plants per IUCN Red List category * indicate the representative sample of South African plants.
Taxon Extinct Extinct in the Wild Critically Endangered Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) Endangered Vulnerable Near Threatened Data Deficient Rare Least Concern Total
Representative sample taxa* 0 0 20 3 47 83 67 49 44 587 900
Representative endemic taxa* 0 0 16 3 43 74 60 38 44 310 588
All plant taxa 28 8 538 71 1027 1559 600 1367 1318 13732 20248
Endemic plant taxa 28 7 476 70 969 1474 540 1272 1270 7542 13648

A pioneering socio-ecological conservation model developed in the Kruger National Park and spread to other parts of South Africa, has successfully resulted in the highly popular medicinal plant the pepper bark tree (Warburgia salutaris) being downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable. This conservation intervention that supplies traditional healers with cultivated plants to grow in home gardens has reduced pressure on wild populations while ensuring continued access to culturally important resources. The intervention has slowed and reversed the species’ decline, leading to a genuine improvement in its Red List status. Building on this success, the model is now being expanded to other medicinal plant species, offering a replicable blueprint for balancing cultural practices with biodiversity conservation.

Traditional healers receiving seedlings of the pepper bark tree (Warburgia salutaris) to support conservation and sustainable use of this culturally important medicinal species. (© SANParks)

Important medicinal species. (© Norbert Hahn)

Pressures

Plants in terrestrial ecosystems face multiple interacting pressures, including habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive alien species, pollution, unsustainable resource extraction, and climate change. Among these, habitat loss remains the most significant driver of species decline. Habitat loss is primarily caused by the conversion of natural vegetation for croplands, mining, plantations, human settlements, and infrastructure development. Habitat fragmentation further disrupts ecological functioning and reduces population viability, especially in the context of climate change and biological invasions.

Analyses of species that have increased their risk of extinction since 2021 reveal a notable shift in the primary drivers of extinction risk for plants. Before 2020, these risks were predominantly associated with competition from invasive species, agricultural expansion, urban development, and overgrazing by livestock2. However, current trends indicate increasing influences from climate change, illegal harvesting, mining, renewable energy projects and habitat degradation in sensitive arid ecosystems in the Northern Cape Province (Figure 4, Table 2). Agriculture, including crop cultivation and livestock farming, continues to affect the largest proportion of sampled plants (68%), while competition from invasive alien species is also severe (57%). Loss of habitat to residential and commercial developments has slowed since 2010; however, it still impacts 36% of plants. The 2018 National Biodiversity Assessment reported only 9% of plants to be threatened by harvesting; this has increased to 28%, and plants impacted by habitat loss to mining have increased from 8% in 2018 to 13% in this assessment. The influence of climate change and severe weather events was not reported to be impacting any of the sampled plants in 2018, but is now pronounced, affecting 11% of taxa (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Key pressures affecting threatened and Near Threatened plants from a representative sample of 900 taxa. Pressures are categorised using the IUCN Threat Classification Scheme and are ranked from most to least frequent number of impacted species.

South Africa’s distinctive succulent diversity, notably those endemic to the globally significant Succulent Karoo biodiversity hotspot, is under increasing pressure from a dramatic surge in illegal harvesting driven by high international demand. Since 2017, 878 mostly localised endemic species have been affected by indiscriminate, unsustainable collection from the wild. Twelve species are now considered functionally extinct due to the majority of individual plants having been harvested from the wild.

The illegal succulent harvesting and trade crisis stems from multiple interconnected factors: a notable absence of cultivated material to meet global horticultural demand, limited economic opportunities in remote regions of the Northern Cape that make residents vulnerable to recruitment by criminal syndicates, inadequate in-situ protection measures across vast arid landscapes, and the proliferation of online trade platforms that facilitate operations. These pressures have been exacerbated by climate change impacts (including extended drought conditions since 2016), the COVID-19 pandemic’s socio-economic effects, and overwhelmed conservation authorities struggling with insufficient resources and capacity to manage the growing volume of confiscated plants requiring specialised care.

Recognising that initial law enforcement responses were unable to manage the full scale of the problem, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, in partnership with the South African National Biodiversity Institute and WWF South Africa, developed the comprehensive National Response Strategy and Action Plan in 2022 to address the illegal trade holistically through collaborative multi-stakeholder action. The strategy encompasses seven interconnected objectives designed to ensure both conservation outcomes and sustainable socio-economic development:

  1. ensuring long-term survival of representative wild populations,

  2. establishing well-managed ex-situ collections for confiscated specimens,

  3. capacitating compliance and enforcement sectors with improved resources and coordination,

  4. streamlining regulatory frameworks to support enforcement while enabling sustainable use,

  5. reducing pressure on wild populations through community engagement and livelihood diversification,

  6. developing effective communication strategies about the trade’s impacts, and

  7. exploring options for a formal legal economy that benefits conservation and local development.

Each objective identifies specific actions, lead agencies, supporting partners, priorities, and timelines, with SANBI coordinating overall implementation through dedicated coordination positions established in 2023.

The trends in the illegal plant trade are constantly changing. Dwarf succulents from the family Aizoaceae originally dominated the trade, while geophytes and Euphorbia have become more popular recently. (© Carina Becker-Du Toit)

Staff taking care of confiscated succulents, in the hope of reintroduction in the future. (© Pieter van Wyk and Domitilla Raimondo)

Protection level

Figure 6. Results of the 2024 protection level assessment for (A) a representative sample of 900 plants from the South African flora and (B) a subset of the sample representing endemic taxa.

Protection level measures the contribution of South Africa’s protected area network to meeting plant conservation targets (Figure 6). The plant protection level assessment is applied to the same representative sample from the indigenous flora as used in the Red List Index. Most plants (70%) are Well Protected, however, plants have the second highest proportion of species that are Not Protected (14%), after freshwater fishes (see species protection level under integrated findings). Not Protected plants are found predominantly in the arid central region of South Africa where protected area coverage is sparse (Figure 7). These areas also align with the distribution of Not Protected and Poorly Protected terrestrial ecosystems.

Figure 7. Relative richness of Not Protected plants across South Africa, based on a representative sample of the indigenous flora.

Plant protection level has been assessed twice, in 2017 and 2024. Over this time, protection status improved for 7% of taxa but deteriorated for 1% of taxa (Figure 8). Protection status can change through expansion or contraction of the protected area network (as a result of protected area degazettement), or through changes in the effectiveness of protected areas in mitigating pressures on plants.

Improvements in protection level were the result of both protected area expansion and improvements in protected area effectiveness. The establishment of the Mountain Zebra-Camdeboo Protected Environment in a previously relatively poorly protected part of the Eastern Cape contributed most notably to improving the protection level for multiple plants.

Figure 8. Changes in protection level assessments between 2017 and 2024 for a representative sample of 900 plants.

Protected area effectiveness can have a significant impact on plant protection level assessments. In 2017, 9% of taxa were downgraded at least one category due to insufficient protected area effectiveness. In 2024, this number improved to 7% of taxa. In the 2024 assessment, 2.5% of taxa were placed in higher protection level categories compared to 2017, solely due to improvements in the effectiveness of the protected areas where they occur. However, the 2024 assessment also highlighted how increasing pressures such as plant poaching, overgrazing, and drought are having significant impacts on protected areas’ capacity to protect plants from extinction. All taxa that were assessed in lower protection level categories in 2024 compared to 2017 were due to deteriorating protected area effectiveness, most notably in the Succulent Karoo region in the Northern Cape and Western Cape. Protected area degazettements, on the other hand, were minor and had no impact on protection level.

Daubenya namaquensis, a rare and restricted range species from Namaqualand experienced a genuine improvement in protection level status as a result of the declaration of new protected areas between 2018 and 2025. (© Nick Helme)

To contribute data to future Red List and protection level assessments of plants, you can join the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) Programme – a citizen-science initiative focused on the monitoring and conservation of South Africa’s threatened plants.

For more information, email crew@sanbi.org.za.
Alternatively, join these citizen science projects on iNaturalist
South African Red List: Plants and Animals and redlist (s Afr).

New to iNaturalist (or never heard of it) and want to play along? Watch these video tutorials to get started, and sign up on the iNaturalist website or download the app on your smartphone.

To see how valuable your nature photographs can be, watch this inspiring TED talk

Species recovery

South Africa, as a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, is committed to taking urgent action to halt human-induced extinctions, reduce species’ risk of extinction, and improve their conservation status by 2030 (see Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Target 4). Achieving this target requires coordinated efforts to prevent and reverse species declines, recover and conserve populations, and maintain genetic diversity, particularly among threatened species. To contribute to the GBF Target 4 goals, South Africa has initiated a process with each taxonomic group that has comprehensive Red List assessments to identify and prioritise species in urgent need of recovery. Box 4 explains the prioritisation process for plant recovery.

NoteBox 4. A prioritisation process for plant recovery

With over 3 000 plants threatened with extinction, multiple interventions to address threatened species declines are required, including the expansion of protected areas, the restoration of habitats that are being degraded by invasive species, and the inclusion of threatened plants in biodiversity sector plans. In addition, 293 Critically Endangered and Endangered plants need active recovery projects in order to ensure that they do not go extinct in the next decade.

Between 2020 and 2023, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) led a process to prioritise plants in urgent need of recovery, using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria to select those in most urgent need of recovery. A species recovery working group with members from conservation agencies and indigenous plant growers has been established, and each stakeholder has been allocated a handful of species on which to implement recovery work. A major upscaling of resources is required, as only 14 of the 293 species identified as needing urgent action have active recovery projects implemented.

Below are two examples of Critically Endangered plant species that require urgent recovery interventions to ensure their long-term survival. The factsheets outline the key activities needed, including habitat restoration, population reinforcement, and threat mitigation.

Click on images to enlarge

Approach

Threat status assessment

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Categories and Criteria are used to assess the threat status of plants in South Africa. The 2025 South African National Plant Checklist records 23 514 taxa and 21 539 species, of which 20 204 are indigenous. Remarkably, 60.5% of these indigenous species are endemic to the country. This enormous number of plants, and the very limited number of plant Red List specialists in the country, makes it challenging to reassess all plants regularly. Therefore SANBI coordinates and undertakes the assessments of selected families or genera each year. The Red List of South African Plants website hosts all national plant assessments. To track trends in extinction risk and identify the pressures driving these risks, a representative sample of 900 plant species is used for repeat assessments for each National Biodiversity Assessment.

Read more about how threat status is assessed here.

Protection level assessment

The species protection level assessment measures the contribution of South Africa’s protected area network to species persistence. It evaluates progress towards the protection of a population target for each species, set at the level of protection needed to support long-term population survival.

Read more about the calculation of the protection level indicator here.

Acknowledgements

Coordinated by:

Funded by:

Contributors

Table 3. List of content reviewers.
Contributors Affiliation
Anisha Dayaram South African National Biodiversity Institute
Carol Poole South African National Biodiversity Institute

Technical documentation

Data sources

  1. South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). 2024. Statistics: Red List of South African Plants. Available at: http://Redlist.sanbi.org. Accessed August 27, 2025.

  2. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). 2019. National Biodiversity Assessment 2018: The status of South Africa’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Synthesis Report. South African National Biodiversity Institute, an entity of the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Pretoria. pp. 1–214.

  3. DFFE. 2024. South African Protected Areas Database (SAPAD), Version 2024_Q3 (modified by SANBI). DFFE, Pretoria. Available at: https://www.dffe.gov.za/egis. Accessed: 25 August 2024.

Code repositories

Protection level: Von Staden, L. 2025. SANBI-NBA Plant protection level indicator [Source code]. GitHub repository available at https://github.com/SANBI-NBA/plant-protection-level.

Technical reports

Protection level: Von Staden, L. 2025. Plant protection level indicator. National Biodiversity Assessment Technical Reports. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.30135625.

References

1. Butchart, S.H.M. et al. 2004. Measuring global trends in the status of biodiversity: Red List indices for birds. PLoS Biology 2: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020383
2. Skowno, A.L. et al. 2019. National biodiversity assessment 2018: The status of south africa’s ecosystems and biodiversity. South African National Biodiversity Institute.