South Africa’s national flower is the protea. Most of us are familiar with the king protea — it’s available in florist’s shops around the world. But finding it in the wild is a totally different experience.
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| Wild king protea growing in the fynbos, east of Cape Town. |
The area around Cape Town, South Africa, is the richest floral kingdom in the world. Protea abound, so many different types that I can’t begin to identify them all.
Identification is particularly tough because the varieties look so different, one from another. That difference accounts for the flower’s name: it comes from the Greek god Proteus, who could change his shape at will.
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| I think this is Protea compact |
Up close, the king protea is a prickle of colours and shapes.
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| The leaves of the king protea are thick and slightly waxy. |
I saw many types of protea — and many other flowers, too, all growing wild on the hillsides in the fynbos. (The name comes from the Dutch words for fine leaf.) In bloom everywhere was this beauty, colloquially called wild dagga.
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| A hillside of wild dagga, ericas and multiple other fynbos species. |
Up close, the dagga (Leonotis leonurus) has a fascinating form, whether in full bloom,
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| I love the contrast between the bright orange and green. |
or in bud.
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| The form of this wild flower, with buds spaced along the stem, reminds me of a plant commonly grown in England. Who can remind me of the name of that flower? |
Gorgeous flowers abounded… but I can’t identify them, so you’ll simply have to enjoy the photos.
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| I think this is a type of erica. Correct me if I’m wrong. |
I love the colour variation in the plant below.
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| What is it? |
Equally striking was the height of this member of the reed family, silhouetted against the ocean in the distance.
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| One of the many restios growing in the fynbos. |
But I must confess that my favourite newly-seen flower was a scraggly looking one I came across at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, one of the great botanical gardens in the world. (More on that in next week’s post.)
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| Why on earth would I like this flower best? |
It’s called Erica patersonii. I’m not sure who Paterson was, only that his, or her, name is the same as mine. (Pat is short for Patterson, not Patricia.) While it’s true that I spell my name with two ‘ts’ and the paterson of the plant world has only one ‘t’, I still plan to claim it as my personal South African flower.
Or perhaps I’ll claim this lovely leaf from another member of the protea family , Leucospermum patersonii.
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| Sun highlights the red-tinged edges of the leaf. |
Can anyone tell me something about Paterson? I’d love to know who s/he was.
Erica patersonii is named in honour of Lieutenant William Paterson (1755-1810) who made four collecting journeys into South Africa. He was sent by Sir Joseph Banks to make observations on the natural history of the land. Fynbos – which grows in a 100-to-200-km-wide coastal belt stretching from Clanwilliam on the West coast to Port Elizabeth on the Southeast coast – forms part of the Cape floral kingdom, where it accounts for half of the surface area and 80% of the plant species. The fynbos in the western regions is richer and more varied than in the eastern regions of South Africa.
Of the world’s six floral kingdoms, this is the smallest and richest per unit of area. The Holarctic kingdom in contrast, incorporates the whole of the northern hemisphere north of the tropical regions. The diversity of fynbos plants is extremely high, with over 9000 species of plants occurring in the area, around 6200 of which are endemic, i.e. growing nowhere else in the world. This level of diversity is comparable to tropical rainforests or large islands and is unique in a relatively dry continental area. Of the Ericas, some 600 occur in the fynbos kingdom, while only two or three dozen have been described in the rest of the world. This is in an area of 46,000 km² – by comparison, the Netherlands, with an area of 33,000 km², has 1400 species, none of them endemic. Table Mountain in Cape Town supports 2200 species, more than the entire United Kingdom. Thus, although the Fynbos comprises only 6% of the area of southern Africa, it has half the species on the subcontinent – and in fact has almost 1 in 5 of all African plant species so far described.
The Monsoons are changing and this area is changing with it.
Thanks to you, Robert, and to many other readers who provided a link to Lt William Paterson. An interesting man. And a VERY big thanks for introducing me to a new word: Holarctic. Who knew?
http://learnearnandreturn.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/william_paterson_and_the_battered_wife/
YUP info exactly as above…and a little more here.
WOW! What a great find, Liz. So interesting. I will now be forced to do research on the battered wife as well. Thank you very much for this intriguing link.
I am wondering if it is Phlomis that you are thinking is similar to the Leonotis?
Yes, that is it!
Thanks, Kathy.