Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos - South Africa vegetation types

Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos is a vegetation type that naturally occurs in the

Cape Winelands The Boland (Afrikaans for "top country" or "land above") is a region of the Western Cape province of South Africa, situated to the northeast of Cape Town in the middle and upper courses of the Berg and Breede Rivers, around the Boland Mountains ...

(or " Boland") of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. This vegetation type is found on lower mountain slopes and high, rolling plains in the

Boland of

. The loamy soils are naturally poor, moist and slightly acidic but the biodiversity is rich. The vegetation consists of a diverse array of Protea, Erica,

geophyte A storage organ is a part of a plant specifically modified for storage of energy (generally in the form of carbohydrates) or water. Storage organs often grow underground, where they are better protected from attack by herbivores. Plants that have ...

and daisy species, as well as some endemic species. In the moister areas, the Ericas predominate over the other plant groups. This vegetation type is more vulnerable than other types of mountain

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

, as it typically grows on lower slopes, which tend to be developed for housing or cultivated for farming. Peninsula Shale Fynbos - DevilsPeak Cape Town

Peninsula Shale Fynbos

An isolated patch of this vegetation can also be found further to the west, within the city of Cape Town. Here it is usually known as Peninsula Shale Fynbos and occurs on the lower slopes of Devils Peak as far south as

Newlands Forest Newlands Forest is a conservation area, conservancy area on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, beside the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town. It is owned and maintained by the Table Mountain National Parks Board, along with the City Parks Departme ...

and

Kirstenbosch Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South A ...

. On the northern slopes of Devils Peak, it merges into Peninsula Shale Renosterveld. This ecosystem is usually classed as being a type of Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos, although there are differences. There is a forest of Silvertrees (''

Leucadendron argenteum ''Leucadendron argenteum'' (silver tree, silver leaf tree, af, Witteboom, or af, Silwerboom) is an endangered plant species in the family Proteaceae, which is endemic to a small area of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. Most grow in and around ...

'') growing in this spot of Peninsula Shale Fynbos, just above

Rhodes Memorial The Rhodes Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, is a memorial to the English-born South African politician Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902). The memorial was designed by the renowned architect, Sir Herbert Baker. Location The mem ...

. This rare and enormous Protea is typically restricted to the Peninsula Granite Fynbos of Cape Town. It is not known why it grows in the shale fynbos here.

References

{{Cape Town, natural Fynbos ecosystems . Vegetation types of Cape Town

Peninsula Shale Fynbos

See also

References