As a part of the new look and feel web presence to Haut Espoir, we are going to focus our biodiversity initiative with a weekly look at something new in Fynbos.

First off, maybe we should do a quick recap on what fynbos is. Defined on the Fynbos.co.za web page as:

Fynbos is the term given to a collection of plants (a vegetation type) that is dominated by shrubs and comprises species peculiar to South Africa’s southwestern and southern Cape. Fynbos is characterised by four growth forms : tall protea shrubs with large leaves (proteoids); heath-like shrubs (ericoids); wiry reed-like plants (restioids); and bulbous herbs (geophytes). When the Dutch arrived at the Cape in the mid 17th century they required timber for building. The Cape offered little exploitable forest, although there were a few patches near Kirstenbosch and at Hout Bay. Remnants of these forests can still be seen today. The predominant vegetation had timber too slender or fine for harvesting, and was thus apparently given the name ‘fijnbosch’. Restioids, all members of the southern hemisphere family Restionaceae make up the growth form which uniquely characterises fynbos.

With more than 7000 species crammed into 46,000 square kilometres, biodiversity at the species level is the highest in the world. The Cape Peninsula alone hosts 2285 plant species in an area less than a hundredth of the size of the British Isles, in which only 1500 different plant species occur.

Now that we have all that cleared up, we are going to do a weekly posting, always on a friday, on a species of fynbos. The aim is education of something which we should all be proud of, something completely unique to the Western Cape, and something you should know more about.

This week we are talking about the Wachendorfia. It’s probably one of the more striking flowering plants we have in our fynbos area right now. When it opens up as it is doing here, the spray of yellow is remarkably dazzling. Known by its Afrikaans name, the spinnekopblom, this is one of the fynbos friends we will be using in our soon to be commissioned wetland effluent plant. In its natural environment it favours the riverine areas and wetlands a great deal. And adds such amazing colour at this time of year when the fynbos tends to start losing colour before the dry season.

This taken from South African Wild Flower Guide 5, Anne Bean and Amida Johns.

Wachendorfia paniculata

A slender more or less hairy perennial, to 70cm high, with reddish, tuberous roots and a fan of pleated leaves up to 40cm long, as long as or shorter than the flowering stem. The yellow flowers are up to 25mm long and often have dark markings. Bracts are papery. One of the 3 stamens grows in a direction opposite from the off centre syle, which is possibly an arrangement to reduce self pollination. The 3-chambered ovary has one seed per chamber. Flowering abundantly after fire. It is recorded in well drained sands and coarse gravels from Clanwilliam to Port Elizabeth. (Sept – Oct)