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Top left: northwestern Karoo vegetation. Top right and Centre left: Proteas. Centre right: typical Highveld savannah. Bottom left: Baobab tree in the Kruger. Bottom right: succulents in Namaqualand.
The by far biggest part of South Africa is grassland. Especially on the Highveld, the plant cover is dominated by different grasses, low shrubs and acacia trees, mainly camel-thorn and white-thorn. Towards the north-west the vegetation becomes - due to the low precipitation - sparse. In the hot and dry Namaqualand one can find numerous species of the water-storing succulents like aloes and euphorbias. In the north-east, the grass and thorn savannah slowly changes into a bush savannah with a more dense growth. Here the Baobab trees are significant, which one can see in the northern Kruger Park area.
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Plants and Vegetation in
South Africa
With more than 20,000 different plants, which are about 10 per cent of all the plants of the earth, South Africa is particularly rich in species. About 8000 of the species are concentrated on the small region of the Western Cape. The fynbos vegetation zone at the Cape is one of the six Floral Kingdoms of the earth.It mainly consists of evergreen hard-leave plants with usually fine, needle-like leaves. The fynbos is particularly rich in splendid blossom-plants, in the first place the wonderful proteas, of which alone there are some 130 different species. Because of their many different shapes, sizes, colours and qualities, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus named them after the Greek god Proteus who, according to the mythology, able to change his appearance whichever way he wanted.
The wealth in blooming plants is overwhelming, but the forestal resources, however, are a totally different story. Only one per cent of the South African territory is covered with forests, almost exclusively in the humid coastal plains of the Indian Ocean and in the bordering moderate heights (Midlands) of the escarpment (see "Geology"). Predominant are, unfortunately, plantations of imported tree species, mainly eucalyptus and pine. The original rainforest has almost completely fallen prey to ruinous exploitation. Because the native forest was economically of little value and also very difficult to access and penetrate, early in the history of South Africa, the farmers have extinguished it ruthlessly. Only small patches have remained here and there. Today, the South African hard-wood trees like Yellowwood, Stinkwood and Ironwood are put under strictest nature protection.
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