Submitted by David on
A radical update to the 5th South African Wildflower Guide series, Hottentots Holland to Hermanus by Lee Burman and Anne Bean, this guide covers a larger area, brings new and improved photographs, improved layout, modernised descriptions and many more plants. This area is the richest mediterranean region in the world and the heart of the Cape Floristic Region / Kingdom. The Fernkloof reserve alone has nearly 1500 species of flowering plants, and the Kogelberg list is over 1650 species. Maintaining the brief descriptions, common names, habitats, brief distributional descriptions, it has also retained notes about closely related species from the area not depicted in the book. There is also a new description of each family at the front of the book. The introduction includes sections on different regions within the area, climate and geology, habitats, ecology and origins, fynbos and soil, pollination and seeds, fynbos and fire-survival, fire and conservation, and conservation. In addition there is a table on p.43 of some distinctive family characteristics that separates leaves opposite/whorled from leaves compound or deeply incised; leaves with stipules; leaves gland dotted; stamens fewer than 5 vs stamens many; petals / sepals united; ovary inferior; and ovary with 2 or more separate carpels and styles.
Text is by Anne Bean and Amida Johns. Photographs are by Amida Johns and others. Illustrations are by Wendy Hitchcock.
