A conservation manager made the discovery of a lifetime when he took a picture of what he thought to be a common fynbos species, a flower in the Moraea genus, in August 2022.
The flower turned out to be a Moraea minima, also known as the Mini Galaxy flower, which was last seen over 40 years ago and thought to be extinct, according to a report by the nonprofit Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (NWSMA).
Species are going extinct in modern times at 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural rate, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and human beings are largely to blame. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists more than 40,000 species as threatened with more than 9,000 species considered critically endangered. The Mini Galaxy flower was feared to be extinct until Eugéne Hahndiek, a conservation manager with NWSMA, stumbled across the flower growing in the middle of the road near Africa's southern tip in August 2022.
At the time, Hahndiek didn't know he'd rediscovered a flower long sought by scientists. He posted the photo on iNaturalist, an app used by citizen scientists. This year, the photo drew the attention of scientist John Manning. Manning recognized the flower as the endangered Mini Galaxy and informed the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) of the photo.
In July, a CREW team searched the site for the flower hoping to find it and conduct research. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. However, when they returned in August, they found the flower in a new location.
"It seems that this special species is difficult to find because it's quite finnicky," Hahneick said after the discovery, according to the report. "What we've found is that it only flowers in spring for a few hours after it has rained. Then the flowers disappear, until the following rains come. The other challenge is that these plants seem to often grow in slightly precarious spaces, for example road verge or in the middle of a road. That's why we need to know where they are, to plan how to protect them."
Hahndiek told Newsweek that the flowering occurs in August. For the rest of the year, the flowers are difficult to identify. Now that NWSMA is aware of the flowers' location, it plans to work the species into its conservation efforts by clearing invasive species and creating fire management plans.
"It's not only about protecting the one species but about protecting the habitat in which it occurs, which in this instance is critically endangered western rûens shale renosterveld and endangered elim ferricrete fynbos," Hahndiek said. "We've also informed the landowners of the species and where they occur, to ensure they're aware of how special these are."
The discovery comes as the Endangered Species Act officially delisted 21 species earlier this month because of extinction. Various other species believed to be extinct have recently been rediscovered as well, including the Ilex sapiiformis tree in Brazil and the houting, a whitefish species, in the North Sea.
"This rediscovery illustrates the value of regular monitoring and encouraging people to participate in [programs] like CREW and post their findings on iNaturalist," CREW project manager Ismail Ebrahim said in the Nuwejaars report. "This is a critical step for understanding the exceptionally special plants we have and what steps have to be taken to conserve these species."
Since the search for the flower began, the CREW and NWSMA teams have identified two populations of the flower, which was last officially seen in 1981.
Update 10/27/23, 3:15 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a new photo.
Update 10/30/23, 8:49 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include comments from the NWSMA's Eugéne Hahndiek.
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