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Coenocorypha barrierensis
North Island Snipe
Holotype
Collected prior to 1871
Collected by: Bennett
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/record/am_naturalsciences-object-125988

Wynberg Conebush - extinct for 200 years

Leucadendron grandiflorum (Salisb.) R.Br. Wynberg Conebush
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Global Status: EX.
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Last seen in 1806 in Clapham. No records exist of its ecology, habitat, extent or time of demise, other than that it used to occur on Wynberg Mountain. The area was the location of the earliest colonial farms.
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Based on its sister species, L. globosum and L. elimense, it probably occurred on the upper south slopes of Wynberg hill on moister granite soils.
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Because of the feud between Robert Brown and Richard Salisbury at the turn of the 19th Century, Salisbury’s description was incorrectly synonymized and its existence neglected until Ion Williams revised the genus in 1972. During this entire period there are no records alluding to the species, and to this day it is only known from Salisbury’s description and a single drawing of a male plant (shown above: that is it!). Its local date of extinction is thus unknown, and can be anywhere from the turn of the 18th century until recently. However, as it was not collected by collectors in the middle 18th century it was either very rare or extinct by the early 1800s. From the description and drawing there can be no doubt that this is a valid taxon, that it belongs to the Crowned Conebushes, and that its sister species is L. globosum.
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Considerable confusion was caused by the use of L. grandiflorum for the unrelated Sun Conebushes L. barkerae, L. daphnoides and L. tinctum during the 1900s, and illustrations of Leucadendron sessile that were misidentified as L. grandiflorum in the 1800s. The previous Red List status in 1996 as of uncertain taxonomic status is thus not valid, being partially as a result of this confusion. This confusion persists in the literature today.
A few persons have claimed that it might not be a good species based on a single plant, but Salisbury's description leaves no doubt that at least the male was quite distinct from the other Crown Conebushes. That coupled with the distribution make it highly likely that this was quite a distinct species. One unique feature mentioned was the strong and disagreeable odour, which unfortunately is not adequate to determine if it might have been fly pollinated.
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It is sadly too late to do anything about this apparently impressive plant. Wynberg Hill is today covered by Bishops Court and Constantia, and either under houses or vineyards. The odds that any undiscovered seedbanks may survive under hedgerows and pine stands is exceedingly small. Road verges and undeveloped erven have been well searched, to no avail.
This must be our earliest documented extinction in South Africa, and perhaps attributable to our Mediterranean love of wine.
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Illustration from Paradisus Londonensis page 105
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ia/mobot31753000575172#page/248/mode/1up

BIDENS ANDICOLA H.B.K., Nov. Gen. et Sp. 4:237 (186). 1820; B. andicola H.B.K. vars. normalis and heterophylla O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 3^II^: I36. 1898; B. fruticulosa Mey. and Walp., Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 19 Supplem. I. 271. 1843.

Descript. amplific.- Herba perennis, semi-procumbens vel etiam erecta, valde hispido-pubescens vel fere glabra, ramosa, 2-8 dm. alta, caulibus parce angulatis. Folia 1-7 cm. longa, valde polymorpha; nunc indivisa, ovata, serrata, sessilia vel alato-petiolata, ad apicem obtusa vel subacuta; nunc tripartite vel 1-3-pinnata foliolis ovatis vel lanceolatis vel linearibus et ad apicem sensim vel abrupte apiculatis. Capitula ramos terminantia, longe pedunculata, radiata; pansa ad anthesin 2-4 vel rarius etiam usque ad 5.5 cm. lata, 0.7-1.4 cm. alta. Involucrum perspicue hispidum, bracteis ex-terioribus 8-10, lanceolatis vel lineari-oblongis, ciliatis, supra saepe glabratis, apice plerumque obtusis, quam interioribus lanceolatis dense hispidis plerumque multo brevioribus. Flores ligulati saepius 8, lutei, ligula elliptico-oblanceolati, apice plerumque minute 3-denticulati, 1.2-2.5 cm. longi. Achaenia tenuiter linearia, inferne sensim attenuate, obcompresso-quadrangularia, sulcata, supra plus minusve erecto-hispida, fusco-nigra, corpore 0.7-1.4 cm. longa et 0.4-1 mm. lata et paleas demum superantia, apice bi- (vel pauca tri-) aristata, aristis tenuibus, brunneo-stramineis vel rubescentibus, re-trorsum hamosis, 1.7-3 mm. longis.

BIDENS ANDICOLA var. DECOMPOSITA O. Kuntze, I.c.; B. macrantha Griseb., Abhandl. Goett. I9:I38 I874; B. grandiflora Balb. var. breviloba 0. Kuntze, I.c.-Folia 2-3-pinnatisecta, usque ad I dm. longa, achaeniis superne valde attenuato-elongata.

For many years the identity of the South American Bidens andicola has been obscured for herbarium workers by the great multiplicity of foliage forms encountered. WEDDELL, as early as 1856 (Chloris And. 1870) described it as a polymorphous plant ("Plante polymorphe et très repande dans la chaine, mais presque exclusivement alpestre"). Later, OTTO KUNTZE, who like WEDDELL had collected in South America, commented upon the variability of the leaves ("Eine robuste Art mit einfach oder mehrfach ternatisecten Blättern, mittelgrossen gelben Strahlblüthen, ziemlich grossen Blüthenköpfen, äusseren zottig behaarten Involucralbracteen etc., aber in Bezug auf Blatttheilung wie manche andere Bidens-Art sehr variabel"; Rev. Gen. Pl. 3^II^: 136. 1898). In herbaria the numerous foliage forms are seen to simulate corresponding forms of B. triplinervia H.B.K. (B. humilis H.B.K., B. crithmifoliac H.B.K., etc.), and this has led often to confusion between the two species. Recently I was enabled, through the courtesy of OTTO BUCHTIEN (cf. SHEREFF, BOT. GAZ. 76: 151. 1923), to study a great number of specimens collected by him and displaying a wide range of variation. From these (all in Herb. Field. Mus.) and many others, totalling more than two hundred specimens, the preceding descriptions are drawn. It was found that sometimes, in poorly developed material, distinction from B. triplinervia is apparently impossible. In well developed material, however, the distinctions are usually very definite, B. andicola being coarser, its thicker heads having commonly about eight instead of commonly about five rays[4], etc. B. andicola has the paleae shorter than the mature achenes and this character separates it from the surprisingly similar aggregation of Mexican forms (Purpus 1547, 1548, 2637, 4135, 5089, 5620; Rose and Painter 6666, 7949; Pringle 4915; E. W. Nelson 3220, etc.) that in late years have passed erroneously under the name B. daucifolia DC. In the latter[5] the paleae are usually very blackish above and commonly surpass the mature achenes.

Occasionally a form of B. andicola is found with the leaves highly compound and the achenes strongly narrowed above, somewhat like those of Cosmos. If it were not for various connecting forms this would seem to be specifically distinct. KUNTZE, who himself collected specimens of it, referred at least one of them, a plant from Cochabamba, Bolivia (Herb. N.Y. Bot. Gard.) to B. andicola, naming it var. decomposita. In a careless moment he named a precisely identical form from between Cochabamba and Rio Juntas, Bolivia (Herb. N.Y. Bot. Gard.) B. grandiflora Balb. var. breviloba, although B. grandifjora is a Mexican species and is not known to occur in South America.

[4] Unfortunately, B. triplinervia produces at times an 8-rayed form. Discussion of this form must be deferred until a later date.

Sherff, E. E. (1926). Studies in the Genus Bidens. VII. Botanical Gazette, 81(1), 25-54.>>