What do we mean by vegetation? At its simplest, vegetation can be described as the group of plants forming the plant cover of a geographic area. As humans, we tend to classify things, and so vegetation has been classified too.

Floral Kingdoms

At a global scale the vegetation of the world is sometimes described in terms of six Floristic Regions, often called the Floral Kingdoms of the world. The distinction between regions is based on distinctive suites of flowering plants, taking into account those (particularly families) that are exclusive (endemic) to the region. Of particular note to South Africans is that the Cape forms one of these distinct kingdoms; the Cape Floral Kingdom, covering 0.08% of the world's land surface, but containing about 3% of the world's plants. This is a precious resource to be proud of and to conserve for future generations. For more information about the Cape Floral Kingdom, see Fynbos Biome.

Biomes

Groupings called Biomes (biotic communities) have been described for plants and/or animals living together with some degree of permanence, so that large-size patterns in global plant cover can be observed. Biomes broadly correspond with climatic regions, although other environmental controls are sometimes important. Each biome has a characteristic set of plant and animal species as well as a characteristic overall physiognomy (for example a general appearance given by the plant shapes). The general plant characteristics give a characteristic visual signature to the vegetation of the biome.

Rutherford and Westfall (1994) map seven biomes in South Africa:

• Grassland
• Savanna
• Succulent Karoo
• Nama Karoo
• Forest
• Fynbos
• Desert.
• Low and Rebelo (1996) include a Thicket biome.

The descriptions of the biomes on this site come directly from Low & Rebelo, except for the Desert biome, which is not included in their publication.

Map of Biomes (.jpg)

Veld types

John Acocks travelled very widely throughout South Africa during a 40-year period and sampled some 3300 sites, meticulously recording plant species at the various sites. He described vegetation patterns at a scale that is still smaller than the biome. He described 70 Veld Types in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. One can refer to Acocks' book Veld Types of South Africa for the descriptions together with photographs, species compositions, and some other characteristics of each veld type.

Map of Acocks' Veld Types (.jpg)

GIS files
GIS Users can download shape files of these maps

Next time you travel, take time to look around to see if you can recognise characteristic patterns and shapes to the vegetation about you.

Alien Plants

The natural vegetation of South Africa is being invaded by alien plants (plants from elsewhere in the world). These are the Declared Weeds & Invader Plants as listed in 2001.

Red data lists, protected plants and permits

Further Reading on Vegetation

The first three publications listed below may be available from NBI. See the Publications section under Products & Services for details.

Acocks, J.P.H. 1988. Veld Types of South Africa. Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Afr. No. 57.

Rutherford, M.C. & Westfall, R.H. 1994. Biomes of southern Africa: an objective characterisation Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Afr. No. 63.

Low, A.B. & Rebelo,A.G. (edit.) 1996, Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Pretoria: DEAT. This publication is available online at :http://www.ngo.grida.no/soesa/nsoer/Data/vegrsa/vegstart.htm

Cowling, R.M., Richardson, D.M. & Pierce, S.M. 1997, Vegetation of Southern Africa. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.