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Harmony Flats Reserve
Harmony Flats Nature Reserve is a piece of protected land, located between Strand, Western Cape, Strand and Gordon's Bay, South Africa. It protects a surviving fragment of critically endangered Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos vegetation. Harmony Flats was originally established to preserve a habitat for the rare and declining geometric tortoise (''Psammobates geometricus''). This tortoise is now locally extinct, but the reserve still protects about 220 species of plants (many of them endangered) as well as a range of animal species, such as the tiny parrot-beaked tortoise (''Homopus areolatus''), various snakes and a large variety of birds. This is one of the few remaining spots of the critically endangered vegetation type Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos. Local volunteers and community organisations are now heavily involved in protecting and managing the reserve. See also * Biodiversity of Cape Town * List of nature reserves in Cape Town * Geometric tortoise * Lourensford Alluvium Fynbo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos
Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos is a critically endangered vegetation type that is endemic to Cape Town. Though closest to Fynbos, it has characteristics of both Fynbos and Renosterveld vegetation and is thus actually a unique hybrid vegetation type. Distribution This ecosystem occurs only in what is now the eastern corner of the city - in and around the suburbs of Somerset West and Strand, Western Cape, Strand. It is located at the juncture between the mountain ranges in the east and the Cape Flats lowlands, and has a unique geology influenced by the underground flow of water from the mountains and the presence of a special kind of silt soil. Restionaceae, Restio and Asteraceae, Asteraceous (daisy) species are most common, with Proteaceae, Proteas and Ericaceae, Ericas being relatively rarer. There are spots which are home to an unusually enormous variety and density of bulbs. Taller shrubs proliferate along the banks of streams. Conservation This was one of the earliest of the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
