The Kirstenbosch Plant Fair is a long held tradition and this year heralds the 40th one held since its relatively humble beginnings. Dirk Muller, Chairman of the Kirstenbosch Branch of BotSoc, recalls attending the first plant fair in 1975 which saw eager members queuing up at 6:30am in the morning prior to the opening and by 11am every plant on sale had marched out the door in the hands of inspired and enthused growers.
Sometimes living life on a student budget drives one to do things a little out of the ordinary in the name of travel and exploration. One of the university societies that has inspired and challenged me the most is the University of Cape Town’s Mountain and Ski Club. It is one of the largest mountain clubs in Africa, second only to the Cape Town branch of the MCSA. One of its core philosophies is to encourage and support its members in exploration of the diverse and exquisitely beautiful mountain ranges of the Southern African subcontinent.
This week Notes from a Cape Town Botanist is reporting from the Northern Hemisphere in order to bring you the lowdown on some of the world class and ground-breaking work to conserve the Cape flora going on in other parts of the world. Far away from the green and pleasant land of Sussex in the south-east of England, 7,000 miles away one of the world’s biggest biodiversity disasters is quietly unfolding down in South Africa’s Cape Floristic Region (CFR).
The photo above shows Drosera regia, the King Sundew, growing wild in its natural habitat. It is incredibly rare, only occurring in one valley in the Cape Fold Mountain Range of South Africa. There are just two populations with a small number of individuals, making this the most endangered species of Drosera in the world and it is threatened with extinction in the wild. Despite this, the species remains absent from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
A bitterly cold winter weekend in June brought us to the Cederberg Mountains which lie three hours drive to the north of Cape Town. This beautiful and rugged range is 100km in length and is known for its spectacular sandstone rock formations (such as the Maltese Cross and the Wolfberg Arch), ancient San rock art and being the home of rooibos tea! The shy Cape leopard is fairly common here but rarely seen. The highest peak in the area is Sneeuberg at 2,026m asl. which is one of only two mountain peaks in the area that is home to the Cederberg endemic Snow Protea (Protea cryophila).
This blog comes from Cape Town: one of the world’s most beautiful cities at the south-western most tip of the African continent. It is at the heart of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) which forms one of the most botanically diverse environments on the planet. A lifelong love of plants brought me here for the first time five years ago as a horticultural intern at the world famous Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens. I was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in the village of Portesham in the rural Westcountry county of Dorset. A little more than two years ago I decided to make South Africa my home and flew 7,000 miles southwards to the Mother City to begin a Masters Degree in Botany at the University of Cape Town in its stunning location at the foot of Table Mountain.