Southern African Wild Flowers: Jewels of the Veld

About this book

The native flora of southern Africa is one of the richest and most distinctive in the world. More than 22,000 species of plants, ranging in size from diminutive succulents little larger than pins to towering forest giants 60 metres high or more, have been recorded south of the Zambezi, Okavango and Cunene Rivers. This diverse flora is contained in an area of 2,5 million square kilometres. The significance of these figures becomes evident when the southern African flora is compared with that of subtropical and tropical Africa to the north. An area of equivalent size in East Africa, for instance, contains a meagre 6,000 plant species, while even the richest parts of tropical Africa produce little more than 10,000 plant species in an area just slightly smaller.

This book is a journey through the flora of southern Africa. Each spread represents a stop along the way, chosen for its distinctive landforms, or interesting or especially beautiful plants.

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Biography

John Manning is a research botanist at the National Botanical Institute in Cape Town and is a world authority on the Iris and Hyacinth families. His diverse research interests include the evolution and pollination biology of South African plants. Dr Manning has written or co-authored over 100 popular and scientific papers and is a regular contributor to diverse natural history magazines. He has a particular interest in popularizing southern Africa's wild flowers and has become widely recognized as an illustrator and flower photographer. Colin Paterson-Jones is a professional natural history photographer and writer with a special interest in photographing southern Africa's wild flowers and their interaction in nature with birds, animals and insects.