Braam van Wyk - Pocket Guide to Wildflowers of South Africa

My thanks to all those who made it possible for this book to be produced, especially those who contributed photographs. Many thanks to Daleen Roodt who prepared the line drawings used in the glossary. My appreciation to Martie Dednam, Elsa van Wyk, Elizabeth Retief and Elsa Pooley, who assisted in various ways with the preparation of the manuscript. The South African National Biodiversity Institute is thanked for the use of plant distribution data.

Many thanks to the team at Struik Nature for their patience and support.

The Cape, smallest of the world's six floristic kingdoms, is more or less congruent with the Fynbos Biome (see ). The flowering shrubs in this picture are pincushions, Leucospermum cordifolium . For a country of its size South Africas floristic and vegetational diversity is without equal in the world; over 22,000 plant species are native to the region. Many South African plants are strikingly beautiful, and several garden ornamentals that have become universally popular are derived from species native to the region. The principal objective of this book is to give the reader a glimpse of the regions floral riches.

Common and conspicuous plant species that are likely to be seen, especially along the roadside, have been featured in this book. The species presented represent all the major vegetation types and include several weedy alien species that are naturalised in the region. Though this book covers many flowering plant species, inhabiting a range of vegetation types, it describes only a fraction of the species found in South Africa. Those who want more information on our flora are referred to related books on the topic, some of which are listed under Further reading (see ). South Africa has two distinct floristic kingdoms and is one of only a few countries in the world where one can drive overland from one kingdom to another; it certainly is the one where the change in species composition is most noticeable and the transition between two kingdoms most striking. South Africa is also the only country in the world to harbour an entire floristic kingdom, namely, the Cape Floristic Kingdom.

The smallest kingdom by far, the Cape Floristic Kingdom has more than 8,000 plant species, at least 70% of which are strictly confined to the region. Groups that contribute extensively to the floristic diversity of the Cape are the ericas (730 species) and especially the families Proteaceae (proteas), Restionaceae (reeds), Iridaceae (irises), Asteraceae (daisies), Rutaceae (buchus), Fabaceae (legumes) and Mesembryanthemaceae (vygies). No fewer than eight plant families are more or less strictly confined to the Cape. Outside the Cape, the flora of South Africa has a very different composition and is classified as part of the Palaeotropical Kingdom, a large floristic region that includes most of Africa, Madagascar, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. Prominent groups within this region are from families such as Poaceae (grasses), Mimosaceae (acacia family), Combretaceae (bush willow family), Convolvulaceae (morning glory family), Acanthaceae (acanthus family), Malvaceae (hibiscus family) and many others, mostly with a tropical affinity.

Vegetation can be described as the general effect produced by the growth forms of some or all the plant species in combination.

World-wide the principal vegetation types are forest, savanna, thicket, grassland, semidesert, desert and fynbos (sclerophyllous shrubland). Development of these broad groupings, which represent different habitats, is determined by prevailing climatic conditions over large areas. It is mainly the structural features of a vegetation type that determine its associated macrofauna (e.g. birds, mammals). Areas relatively uniformly covered by any one of these broad vegetation types usually represent major biotic zones called biomes. Although biomes are not determined floristically, they do contain characteristic plant species adapted to the specific prevailing habitat conditions.

South Africa has seven biomes (see ), which are briefly described below. By also considering floristic differences, the biomes are further divided into about 400 different vegetation types.

Dominated by woody vegetation, a forest is multilayered with a continuous canopy cover. South Africa is very poorly endowed with forest; it is by far the smallest biome, covering less than 0.25% of the region. Forests usually occur as small isolated patches (rarely larger than 1km) in relatively frost-free areas with a mean annual rainfall of usually more than 725mm. South Africas forest can be broadly divided into three main types: Afromontane, Coastal and Sand Forest.

These forests are rather poor in wild flowers, with many of the more colourful species occurring as shrublets or creepers along forest margins. Among the more conspicuous flowers on the shady forest floor are species of Clivia , Dietes , Plectranthus and Streptocarpus . A few epiphytic orchids, usually with white flowers, occur in the tree canopies. Forest is relatively poor in wild flowers. A flowering poison bulb, Boophane disticha (), in grassland.