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Cape Floral Kingdom
The Cape
Why is it so diverse?
The answer lies in a mosaic of different soil types, the effects of the mountainous landscape, and variations in local rainfall of between 2,000mm and 100mm per year. A Mediterranean type climate restricts rainfall to the winter months, and as a general rule it tends to be drier in the west and wetter in the east.
So how big is the Cape Floral Kingdom?
It covers a land area of about 90,000 km2, less than 4% of the total area of the Southern African subcontinent. Other floral kingdoms tend to cover vast areas such as Australia or the northern hemisphere. Geographically the Cape flora stretches across a relatively narrow coastal crescent from Niewoudville in the west, through Cape Town and across to Grahamstown in the east. In these small confines are an estimated 9,000 plants, 98% of which produce flowers. The Cape peninsula alone, about 500 km2, has 2,256 plant species (nearly twice as much as Britain, which is 5,000 times bigger).
What is it made up of?
About 69% of these plants can be found nowhere else on earth. That’s because many of them grow on poor nutrient soils and have poor seed dispersal capabilities. There aren’t many local tree species, but a huge variety of distinct fine leafed shrubs and flowering bulbs make up for this. These bulbs, mainly members of the Iris, Hyacinth and Amaryllis family make up approximately 17% of the number of plants. Some, such as Agapanthus, Gladiolus and Watsonia have gone on to grace gardens across the globe. Annual flowering plants, (which currently form the backbone of our seed range) are a surprisingly low 7% of the total plant species.
