West Coast of Northern Cape
This is the low-lying coastal strip of deep sands that lies along the West Coast of South Africa. However it requires distinction from the more southern West Coast north of Cape Town. We define the southern extent of the region as occurring from where the Olifants River enters the sea at Papendorp west of Vredendal, to the mouth of the Orange River at Alexander Bay on the SA/Namibian border. Technically the Northern Cape is further north of Papendorp, but there is no natural barrier to demarcate this region. It is more arid than the southern West Coast and has a significant number of endemics that do not occur in the southern West Coast.
Nodes
Hermannia
Untitled
Albuca
Jordaaniella
Caracal caracal
Trachyandra
Fabaceae
Lycium
Pharnaceum
Pages
Taxonomy term
Thesium
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Derivation uncertain. Gk. thes = a hired labourer. An ancient name for a species of Linaria, toad flax, used by Pliny the Elder. Georg Christian Wittstein traces this to the legendary hero Theseus, who slew the Minotaur and to whom Ariadne gave a wreath in which this plant was woven.
Trachyandra
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Gk. trachys = rough; andros = male. The thick filaments are usually hairy.
Trachyandra
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Gk. trachys = rough; andros = male. The thick filaments are usually hairy.
Ziziphus
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Arabic zizouf = the name for the lotus or ‘jujube tree’, Z. lotus (syn. Z. jujuba). The tree has dark red edible fruits, from which the Victorian sweet ‘jujube’ originated (Jackson).
Zygophyllum
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Gk. zygon = a yoke; phyllum = leaf. The leaves are usually bifoliolate – the two leaflets are as if ‘yoked together’.
Zygophyllum
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Gk. zygon = a yoke; phyllum = leaf. The leaves are usually bifoliolate – the two leaflets are as if ‘yoked together’.