Bulbostylis neglecta

{{Short description|Species of grass-like plant}}

{{speciesbox

|name =Neglected tuft sedge

|image = Bulbostylis_neglecta_in_flower.jpg

|image_caption = Mature plant in flower

|status = CR

|status_system = IUCN3.1

|genus = Bulbostylis

|species = neglecta

|authority = (Hemsl.) C.B.Clarke

|synonyms_ref=

|synonyms=Fimbristylis neglecta Hemsl.

|}}

File:Bulbostylis neglecta scale.jpg

Bulbostylis neglecta, neglected tuft sedge locally, is an endemic member of the Cyperaceae of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=222464 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]Govaerts, R. & Simpson, D.A. (2007). World Checklist of Cyperaceae. Sedges: 1-765. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.Lambdon, P. (2012). Flowering plants & ferns of St Helena: 1-624. Pisces publications for St Helena nature conservation group.

Bulbostylis neglecta was first collected by William John Burchell in 1806, although the specimen was not described as a new species until 1884.Hemsley, William Botting. 1884. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-76: under the command of Captain George S. Nares and the late Captain Frank Tourle Thomson; Botany. London Since then, it had not been recorded again and was presumed extinct until, in May, 2008, during a botanical survey of St Helena, a small population of the sedge was rediscovered by botanists Philip Lambdon and Andrew Darlow of the European Union's South Atlantic Invasive Species Project and by local naturalist Pat Joshua. Subsequent work by the project team located five distinct populations totalling about 4000 plants. The rediscovery is timely as the existing populations are being encroached on by an invasive African fountain grass Pennisetum setaceum.[http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/helena-plant276.html&template=news_archive_item#cr Wildlife Extra, June 2008, 'Extinct’ plant, rediscovered after 200 years, could be lost again within 10 years]{{Cite web |url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.sh/shnt-conservation-programmes/projects-completed/south-atlantic-invasive-species-project-sais/ |title=St.Helena National Trust, South Atlantic Invasive Species Project (SAIS) South Atlantic Invasive Species Capacity Building Project |access-date=2014-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015081907/http://www.nationaltrust.org.sh/shnt-conservation-programmes/projects-completed/south-atlantic-invasive-species-project-sais/ |archive-date=2014-10-15 |url-status=dead }}[http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/helena Lambdon, Phil, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, United Kingdom Overseas Environment Protection Programme, St Helena]