Cape Flats Dune Strandveld - Wolfgat - Cape Town

Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

vegetation type. This is a unique type of Cape Strandveld that is endemic to the coastal areas around

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa, including the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

Habitat

''Strandveld'' means “beach scrub” in the

Afrikaans language Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento that speaks the Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutc ...

. It covers and stabilises

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s on the beaches around Cape Town, and is incredibly colourful in spring when it bursts into flower. It supports a very high

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

of browsing animals, and in the past it was grazed by large herds. The strongly

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The ...

, calcareous dune sand of the coast lies over a base of older

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. In some places, this limestone juts out of the dune sand, and forms impressive beach cliffs. Succulents form a high proportion of Strandveld plants, consequently, fires are much less common in Strandveld than in the neighbouring

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

vegetation. Cape Flats Dune Strandveld is

. More than half of the Cape’s Strandveld has been lost to urbanisation and the building of beach resorts, and only 14 percent of this unique vegetation type is actually conserved. ;Habitat preserves Nature preserves with Cape Flats Dune Strandveld habitat include: * Blaauwberg Conservation Area * Edith Stephens Wetland Park * Rondevlei Nature Reserve * Wolfgat Nature Reserve

Flora

Cape Strandveld vegetation is typically composed of areas of tall, evergreen shrubs, with great numbers of bulbs, grasses, succulents and annual flowers growing in between. Historically, dense forests of large Milkwood trees used to exist at Noordhoek, Olifantsbos, Macassar and Gordons Bay. Plants that are naturally found in Cape Strandveld include shrubs such as ''

Chrysanthemoides monilifera ''Osteospermum moniliferum'' (synonym ''Chrysanthemoides monilifera'') is an evergreen flowering shrub or small tree in the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is native to southern Africa, ranging through South Africa and Lesotho to Mozambique and Zimb ...

'', '' Olea exasperata'', '' Metalasia muricata'', '' Roepera flexuosum'', '' Rhus laevigata'' and '' Rhus glauca''; succulents such as Sour figs ('' Carpobrotus acinaciformis'' and ''

Carpobrotus edulis ''Carpobrotus edulis'' is a creeping plant with succulent leaves in the genus '' Carpobrotus'', native to South Africa. Its common names include hottentot-fig, sour fig, ice plant, highway ice plant, or vygie. Description ''Carpobrotus eduli ...

'') and Mesembryanthemum species; Restios; herbs such as

geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, with the gre ...

s and a great variety of daisies ('' Senecio elegans'', '' Senecio burchellii'', '' Dimorphotheca pluvialis'' and many others). Larger trees that are indigenous to coastal Strandveld include: * Milkwood ('' Sideroxylon inerme'') * Sea guarri (''

Euclea racemosa ''Euclea racemosa'' (the sea guarrie or dune guarrie) is a small to medium-sized Evergreen, evergreen tree that is indigenous to the Indian Ocean coast of Africa from Egypt to South Africa, as well as in Comoros, Oman and Yemen. ''Euclea racemos ...

'') * Cape Camphor tree ('' Tarchonanthus camphoratus'') * Candlewood ('' Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus'') * Wild olive ('' Olea europea subsp. africana'') * Coastal silkybark ('' Robsonodendron maritimum'') There are also

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plant species such as '' Lampranthus tenuifolius''. The most similar vegetation types to CFDS are Langebaan Dune Strandveld and Overberg Dune Strandveld . File:Cape Flats Dune Strandveld flowers at Macassar Dunes.jpg, Flowering geophytes are common in Cape Strandveld. File:Camphor tree - Strandveld beach vegetation - Western Cape.JPG, The Cape Camphor tree ('' Tarchonanthus camphoratus'') naturally occurs in Strandveld. File:Passerina Ericoides ChristmasBerry Plant - Cape Town.JPG, The Christmas-berry Plant, a Cape Flats Dune Strandveld plant. File:Lampranthus tenuifolius2.jpg, '' Lampranthus tenuifolius'', an endemic plant.

References

{{Cape Town, natural Flora of the Cape Provinces Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub in South Africa Vegetation types of Cape Town

Habitat

Flora

See also

References