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Cape Floristic Region

{{short description|Smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world}}

{{Redirect|Cape Region|the region in Delaware|Cape Region (Delaware)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

{{Use South African English|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site

| WHS = Cape Floral Region Protected Areas

| image = Floraregio van de Kaap.jpg

| image_upright = 1.2

| caption =

| location = South Africa

| includes = {{flatlist|

}}

| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ix), (x)}}(ix), (x)

| ID = 1007bis

| coordinates = {{coord|34|10|00|S|18|22|30|E|region:ZA_type:landmark|display=inline,title|format=dms}}

| year = 2004

| extension = 2015

| area = {{convert|1,094,742|ha|acre|abbr=on}}

| buffer_zone = {{convert|798,514|ha|acre|abbr=on}}

| locmapin = South Africa

| map_caption =

}}

The Cape Floral Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province.

The Cape Floristic Region, the smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world, is an area of extraordinarily high diversity and endemism, and is home to over 9,000 vascular plant species, of which 69 percent are endemic.

Much of this diversity is associated with the fynbos biome, a Mediterranean-type, fire-prone shrubland. The economical worth of fynbos biodiversity, based on harvests of fynbos products (e.g. wildflowers) and eco-tourism, is estimated to be in the region of R77 million (~US$5 million) a year.

Thus, it is clear that the Cape Floristic Region has both economic and intrinsic biological value as a biodiversity hotspot.{{Cite journal |last1=Odendaal |first1=Lizelle J. |last2=Haupt |first2=Tanya M. |last3=Griffiths |first3=Charles L. |date=2008-12-10 |title=The alien invasive land snail Theba pisana in the West Coast National Park: Is there cause for concern? |url=https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/153 |journal=Koedoe |language=en |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=93–98 |doi=10.4102/koedoe.v50i1.153 |issn=2071-0771|doi-access=free }}

Location and description

{{Multiimage

| image1 = Bioscape vir 2023275 lrg South Africa.jpg

| caption1 =

| image2 = Bioscapeviz lrg South Africa.jpg

| header = Extent of the Greater Cape Floristic Region

| align = right

| footer = The region occupies less than 0.5% of Africa's land area but supports approximately 20% of its plant life.

}}

Home to the greatest non-tropical concentration of higher plant species in the world, the region is the only hotspot that encompasses an entire floral kingdom, and holds five of South Africa's 12 endemic plant families and 160 endemic genera. Covering 78,555 km2, Cape Floristic Region hotspot is located entirely within the borders of South Africa.

It is one of the five temperate Mediterranean-type systems on the hotspots list, and is one of only two hotspots that encompass an entire floral kingdom (the other being New Caledonia){{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}.

The Region covers the Mediterranean climate region of South Africa in the Western Cape in the southwestern corner of the country, and extends eastward into the Eastern Cape, a transitional zone between the winter rainfall region to the west and the summer-rainfall region to the east in KwaZulu-Natal.

Flora

File:Flora at Cape Peninsula.JPG in the Western Cape]]

File:Fynbos_18_months_after_fire_-_360_degree_photo.jpg region of the Western Cape about 18 months after a fire. New plants can be seen in various stages of growth following the fire. The infertile white soil that fynbos tends to grow in can also be clearly seen.]]

Most of the region is covered with fynbos, a sclerophyllous shrubland occurring on acid sands or nutrient-poor soils derived from Table Mountain sandstones (Cape Supergroup). Fynbos is home to a diverse plethora of plant species including many members of the protea family (Proteaceae), heath family (Ericaceae), and reed family of restios (Restionaceae). Other vegetation types are sandveld, a soft coastal scrubland found mostly on the west-facing coast of the Western Cape Province, on tertiary sands.

Renosterveld is a grassy shrubland dominated by members of the daisy family (Asteraceae), particularly renosterbos (Elytropappus rhinocerotis), graminoids and geophytes, occurring on the base-rich shaley soils of the coastal forelands. Small pockets of Afromontane forest (Southern Afrotemperate Forest) can be found in humid and sheltered areas.

According to Takhtajan (1978), the following families are endemic or subendemic to the region: Grubbiaceae, Roridulaceae, Bruniaceae, Penaeaceae, Greyiaceae, Geissolomataceae, Retziaceae (Retzia) and Stilbaceae.Тахтаджян А. Л. Флористические области Земли / Академия наук СССР. Ботанический институт им. В. Л. Комарова. — Л.: Наука, Ленинградское отделение, 1978. — 247 с. — 4000 экз. [http://herba.msu.ru/shipunov/school/books/takhtajan1978_flor_oblasti_zemli.djvu DjVu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005125008/http://herba.msu.ru/shipunov/school/books/takhtajan1978_flor_oblasti_zemli.djvu |date=5 October 2018 }}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9gylTK3CsScC Google Books].Takhtajan, A. (1986). Floristic Regions of the World. (translated by T.J. Crovello & A. Cronquist). University of California Press, Berkeley, [http://www.gbv.de/dms/bs/toc/024192430.pdf PDF], [http://herba.msu.ru/shipunov/school/books/takhtajan1986_flor_regions.djvu DjVu].Rooibos is produced out of this region.

=Vegetation types=

{{see also|List of vegetation types of South Africa}}

List of vegetation types of the Cape Floristic Region:{{cite web |url=http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/stats/Documents/Vegetation%20Types.mht |title=Vegetation Types |access-date=24 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824223150/http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/stats/Documents/Vegetation%20Types.mht |archive-date=24 August 2013 }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/stats/Pages/VegetationTypes.aspx |title=Vegetation Types |access-date=7 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404034630/http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/stats/Pages/VegetationTypes.aspx |archive-date=4 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}

  • {{annotated link|Atlantis Sand Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Boland Granite Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Cape Flats Dune Strandveld}}
  • {{annotated link|Cape Flats Sand Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland}}
  • {{annotated link|Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Hangklip Sand Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Peninsula Granite Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos}}
  • {{annotated link|Peninsula Shale Renosterveld}}
  • {{annotated link|Southern Afrotemperate Forest}}
  • {{annotated link|Swartland Alluvium Fynbos}}
  • Swartland Alluvium Renosterveld
  • Swartland Granite Renosterveld
  • {{annotated link|Swartland Shale Renosterveld}}
  • Swartland Silcrete Renosterveld

Ecology

The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Cape floristic region into three ecoregions: the Lowland fynbos and renosterveld, Montane fynbos and renosterveld and the Albany thickets.

The fynbos ecoregions are designated one of the Global 200 priority ecoregions for conservation. Conservation International declared the Cape floristic region to be a biodiversity hotspot.

It is thought that the Cape Floristic Region is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of extinction in the world due to habitat loss, land degradation, and invasive alien plants.{{cite web | url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/cape-is-world-s-extinction-capital-1.1735307#.U_Sh8PmSySo | title=Cape is world's extinction capital | date=14 August 2014 | access-date=20 August 2014 | author=South African Press Association}}

World Heritage Site

File:Biodiversity Hotspots 2015.svgs of the world showing the Cape Floristic Region (number 12)]]

In 2004, the "Cape Floral Region Protected Areas" were inscribed as a World Heritage Site. The site includes eight representative protected areas:

References

This article incorporates CC BY-3.0 text from the reference

{{reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Cape Floral|Cape Floristic Region (Cape Floral)}}

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060418152238/http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/cape_floristic/ Conservation International: Cape floristic Region – biodiversity hotspot]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20101203225809/http://www.capeaction.org.za/index.php?C=about&P=6 Cape Action: the Cape floristic Region]

{{Biodiversity of South Africa}}

{{floristic regions}}

{{Regions of Africa}}

{{World Heritage Sites in South Africa}}

Category:Floristic regions

Category:Fynbos

Category:Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

Category:Afromontane ecoregions

Category:Afrotropical realm

Category:Geography of South Africa

Category:World Heritage Sites in South Africa