South Africa has many beautiful hotspots within its borders; however one particular site is a world famous treasure: The Cape Floral Kingdom. The area is a belt of famous shrubbery, bright flowers and an incredible variety of plant families and species. Due to the floral diversity and large number of differing species in such a relatively small space, the area is one of six noted floral kingdoms in the world.Most of these floral kingdoms span extremely vast distances, sometimes entire continents made up of "floral provinces", yet the Cape Floral Kingdom is unique as the area is small, comprising just single province. The Cape Floral Kingdom is located in the Western Cape and contains eight protected areas situated from the Cape Peninsula to the Eastern Cape. The regions within the Floral Kingdom that contain fynbos have been designated as priority eco-regions for conservations. The area has also been declared a biodiversity hotspot.
The Cape Floral Kingdom has also been named a World Heritage Site due to the many ecological and biological aspects associated with the vegetation, some of which are unique to this kingdom, and fynbos plant family.
The concentration and diversity of the flora in the area is one of the highest in the world. The scientific value of the area is also a natural wonder as plants have adapted to fire, have unique reproductive processes, disperse seeds by insects in specific patterns and contain adaptive radiation: a rapid evolution of change.
The Luscious Green Belt
The Cape Floral Kingdom is situated in the Western Cape in South Africa as the area enjoys a Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and warm dry summers. This Floral Kingdom area spans from the Western Cape in the South West to the borders of the Eastern Cape Province; the area where the climate begins to change to a tropical climate and summer rainfall is experienced.
The majority of the flora in the Cape Floral Kingdom consists of various species of fynbos, meaning "fine bush" in Afrikaans. This is a reference to the needle shaped leaves of many fynbos species, a large number of which have hard leaves.
Fynbos
Fynbos is a very diverse plant species that includes the protea, heath and reed families which prefer acidic sands and nutrient poor soils, making the plant an excellent helper in conservation efforts. As they like poor soil, the fynbos plant assists in binding soil and preventing too much surface run off which chokes rivers and generally wreaks havoc with the water cycle. In fact, many conservation efforts, such as sustainable development projects, help in this regard by providing work for locals planting fynbos to grow the population of the plant, bind soil to prevent run off into rivers and streams and also to educate locals on the importance and unique make up of the plant.
Proteas
The various types of proteas are also an attraction of the Cape Floral Kingdom. These large flowers are easily visible on the landscape and provide a stark contrast to the other fynbos flowers which are generally small and delicate. The protea is only found in the southern hemisphere and more than 1,400 species of protea occur in the Cape Floral Kingdom fynbos.
The other plants and vegetation which grow in the Cape Floral Kingdom are scrubs in the Strandveld, daisies on the Renosterveld and graminoids and geophytes in the coastal regions.
The Cape Floral Kingdom is truly a natural wonder of the world. With differing parts flowering in different seasons, blooms are always visible and beautiful to behold. However, this was almost lost due to ignorance of fynbos' rarity and uniqueness. Fortunately today they are protected and helped in their growth and survival through various conservation projects, protected areas and community projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment