Atlas of alien plants

Several species of alien plants in Namibia pose a threat to the natural vegetation. Mapping these species and obtaining basic information on them is a first step in assessing the level of threat and how best to tackle the problem.

If you are not sure of the identification of a plant species, take photos and a specimen and ask advice from the National Herbarium of Namibia. Read their guidelines on how to request an identification and submit a specimen. Enter the specimen reference number in the comments field of your atlasing record.

Take action

If you would like to get involved in removing alien cacti in the Windhoek area, note that the City of Windhoek division of solid waste management will on request remove every lorry load of extracted cacti piled up at accessible places next to a street. If you want a heap of cacti to be removed or a container to be supplied, Theckla Kangueehi from Solid Waste Management should be contacted at tec@windhoekcc.org.na or 061 290 3108 or 081 241 6399. Where cacti are removed, the position should be reported to the botanical society so that after some months they can root out whatever starts growing again from missed pieces, roots or seeds. The email address is nambotsoc@gmail.com. Please also contact Gunhild Voigts who has been spearheading the efforts to remove alien plants in Windhoek: gunhild.voigts@gmail.com or 081 208 5747 and find more information on the Cactus Clean-up website.

Latest alien plants records

These are the latest records added, for alien plants.

» You can also see all records here.

Species	Grid Ref	Date	Recorder

Opuntia microdasys \| Bunny-ear prickly pear	23.718S, 19.366E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Opuntia spinulifera \| Saucepan cactus	23.678S, 19.359E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Prosopis spp	23.678S, 19.359E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Opuntia spinulifera \| Saucepan cactus	23.678S, 19.360E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Prosopis spp	23.768S, 18.876E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Prosopis spp	23.766S, 18.869E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Prosopis spp	23.866S, 18.903E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Datura inoxia \| Downy thorn apple	23.866S, 18.903E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Prosopis spp	23.877S, 18.910E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris
Prosopis spp	23.887S, 18.917E	01/04/2021	Brown, Chris

Opuntia microdasys \| Bunny-ear prickly pear	Opuntia microdasys \| Bunny-ear prickly pear	Opuntia spinulifera \| Saucepan cactus	Prosopis spp

Latest alien plants records map

Top ten alien plant atlassers

Ranked by number of species

Observer	No. of species

Walters, Matthew	29
Mutota, Petra	27
Ward, David	26
Kalumbu, Sarry	22
Matheus, Jeremia	21
Mannheimer, Coleen	19
Mutota, Patrick	18
Brown, Chris	18
Hauptfleisch, Morgan	17
Peters, Raymond	14

Top ten alien plant atlassers

Ranked by number of records

Observer	No. of records

Walters, Matthew	911
Ward, David	735
Mutota, Petra	601
Matheus, Jeremia	217
Kalumbu, Sarry	171
Mutota, Patrick	108
Brown, Chris	106
Mannheimer, Coleen	105
Hauptfleisch, Morgan	71
Kern, Ludi	66

Opuntia microdasys \| Bunny-ear prickly pear	Opuntia microdasys \| Bunny-ear prickly pear	Opuntia spinulifera \| Saucepan cactus	Prosopis spp

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Atlas of alien plants

Take action

Latest alien plants records

Latest alien plants records map

Top ten alien plant atlassers

Top ten alien plant atlassers