FYNBOS - The Cape Floral Kingdom
Cape Fynbos is a wonder of the world. It is the term given to a collection of plants (a vegetation type) that are mainly shrubs and is comprised of species belonging to South Africa's southwestern and southern Cape. Fynbos makes up four-fifths of the Cape Floral Kingdom,The world's landsurfaces are divided into six Plant Kingdoms and Mossel Bay area lies in the heart of the famous Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK) - the smallest and most diverse plant kingdom in the world!
The Cape Floral Kingdom lies in the South Western Cape and stretches from Van Rhynsdorp to Port Elizabeth, with a total size of 90 000 km (about the size of Portugal or Malawi) and covers only 0.02% of the world's landsurfaces. 8 600 Plants occur in the CFK of which 5 800 - or 68% of the plants are endemic. That means these occur only in the CFK and nowhere else on earth - not even elsewhere in South Africa. (The British Isles - three times bigger - only has 1 500 plants in total. The CFK boasts a total of 1 500 bulbous plants alone!).
There are five types of vegetation in the CFK, namely Fynbos (mountain, coastal and limestone), Renosterveld, Thicket, Succulent Karoo and Afromontane Forest. The fynbos element constitutes the biggest component - about 80% - of the Cape Floral Kingdom.
Components of fynbos are Proteoids, Erica's, Restios and the geophytes, or bulbous plants. Characteristics of the CFK is that it evolved over million of years on nutrient poor soils. A further unique adaptation is the one of fynbos to regular fire cycles. It is no exaggeration to say that without fire there won't be any fynbos.
What makes Mossel Bay so unique is that all five vegetation types of the CFK are present in the greater Mossel Bay area. Beautiful areas of Lowland Fynbos, with patches of Limestone Fynbos can be viewed. Especially unique for a coastal town is the Succulent Karoo element. The Afromontane Forests are found towards the mountains on the outskirts of town, mainly in the kloofs and valleys where it is protected from fire.
The Thicket component in Mossel Bay is particularly interesting. On the southern side i.e. from the St Blaize Lighthouse to Dana Bay along the spectacular St Blaize Hiking Trail and beyond, the thicket trees and shrubs are stunted due to wind and the saltsprays. Even though the Milkwood trees in this particular spot are dwarfed and only about a meter high, they could be as old or even older than the famous Post Office Tree.
The tallest shrubs in fynbos are the proteoids they are 1 to 3 metres in height and have large, leathery leaves. They include the Aulas, Leucadendron, Leucospermum, Mimetes, Orothamnus, Paranomus, Protea and Vexatorella species.
Proteoids encompass a wide range of shrub shapes and floral forms. Of all the fynbos groups, the proteoids have been most extensively studied as they are conspicuous and as cut flowers, have tremendous economic potential
The heath-like ericoid growth form comprises about 3 000 species, including the family Ericaceae and many of the largest fynbos genera such as Aspalathus, Agathosma, Cliffortia, Muraltia and Phylica. The leaves of ericoids are small and mostly hard and the edges rolled under. With one of two exceptions, the ericoids store their seeds in the soil.
The restoids comprise all 310 species in the Restionaceae, a family closely related to the grasses. Large genera in the Restionaceae include Elegia, Ischyrolepis, Restio and Thamnochortus. Restoids comprise the growth form, which uniquely characterises fynbos. All members of the restoids have separate male and female plants. The seeds of many of the plants are dispersed by ants.
The final group is the geophytes with 1 400 species. Fynbos has the richest geophyte flora in the world. Some of the larger genera are the irid Gladiolus, the lily Lachenalia and the orchid Disa. The geophytes appear only in the wetter months – they are less visible in the dry summer months when the leaves die back.
