Fynbos - Flora

Flora

The most conspicuous components of the flora are evergreen sclerophyllous plants, many with ericoid leaves and gracile habit, as opposed to timber forest. Several plant families are conspicuous in fynbos; the Proteaceae are prominent, with genera such as Protea, Leucospermum (the "pincushions"), and Leucadendron (the silver tree and "cone bushes"). Proteas are represented by many species and are prominent in the landscape, generally with large striking flowers, many of which are pollinated by birds, and others by small mammals. Most of these do not have anything like ericoid leaves, and nor do most Rhamnaceae, Fabaceae, or Geraniaceae. Fynbos Ericaceae include more species of Erica than all other regions combined. They are popularly called heaths and are generally smaller plants bearing many small, tubular or globular flowers and ericoid leaves. Restionaceae also occur in greater variety in fynbos than anywhere else; their species are superficially grass-like. Many of them grow in wet areas such as seasonal marshes and spongy basins in the sources of mountain streams, but others grow in decidedly arid conditions.

Depending on the locality and the aspects under discussion, several other families have equal claim to being characteristic, including Asteraceae, Rutaceae, and Iridaceae. More than 1400 bulb species occur among the fynbos, of which 96 are Gladiolus and 54 Lachenalia. Areas that are dominated by "renosterbos", Elytropappus rhinocerotis, (Asteraceae) are known as Renosterveld (Afrikaans for "rhinoceros veld").