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Cape Floristic Region

The Cape Floral Region is a floristic region located near the southern tip of South Africa. It is the only floristic region of the Cape Floristic Kingdom, and includes only one floristic province, known as the Cape Floristic Province.

"Cape Region" redirects here. For the region in Delaware, see Cape Region (Delaware).

UNESCO World Heritage Site

South Africa

Natural: (ix), (x)

1007bis

2004 (28th Session)

2015

1,094,742 ha (2,705,170 acres)

798,514 ha (1,973,170 acres)

34°10′00″S 18°22′30″E / 34.16667°S 18.37500°E / -34.16667; 18.37500

The Cape Floristic Region, the smallest of the six recognised floral kingdoms of the world, is an area of extraordinarily high diversity and endemism, and is home to over 9,000 vascular plant species, of which 69 percent are endemic.[1] Much of this diversity is associated with the fynbos biome, a Mediterranean-type, fire-prone shrubland.[1] The economical worth of fynbos biodiversity, based on harvests of fynbos products (e.g. wildflowers) and eco-tourism, is estimated to be in the region of R77 million (~US$5 million) a year.[1] Thus, it is clear that the Cape Floristic Region has both economic and intrinsic biological value as a biodiversity hotspot.[1]

 – Vegetation type from north of Cape Town, in the Western Cape, South Africa

Atlantis Sand Fynbos

 – Vegetation type endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa

Boland Granite Fynbos

 – Endangered vegetation type endemic to the coastal areas around Cape Town

Cape Flats Dune Strandveld

 – Vegetation type endemic to the City of Cape Town

Cape Flats Sand Fynbos

 – Vegetation type endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa

Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland

 – Vegetation type in Western Cape, South Africa

Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos

 – Vegetation type endemic to the southern coastal portion of the Western Cape, South Africa

Hangklip Sand Fynbos

 – Vegetation type endemic to the far south of the Western Cape, South Africa

Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos

 – Vegetation type that is endemic to Cape Town, South Africa

Lourensford Alluvium Fynbos

 – Vegetation type endemic to the city of Cape Town, South Africa

Peninsula Granite Fynbos

 – Vegetation type endemic to the Cape Peninsula in Cape Town, South Africa

Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos

 – Vegetation type found only in South Africa

Peninsula Shale Renosterveld

 – Main indigenous forest-type in the south-western part of South Africa

Southern Afrotemperate Forest

 – Vegetation type endemic to the high plains and mountains in the Western Cape, South Africa

Swartland Alluvium Fynbos

Swartland Alluvium Renosterveld

Swartland Granite Renosterveld

 – Vegetation type endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa

Swartland Shale Renosterveld

Swartland Silcrete Renosterveld

Ecology[edit]

The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Cape floristic region into three ecoregions: the Lowland fynbos and renosterveld, Montane fynbos and renosterveld and the Albany thickets.


The fynbos ecoregions are designated one of the Global 200 priority ecoregions for conservation. Conservation International declared the Cape floristic region to be a biodiversity hotspot.


It is thought that the Cape Floristic Region is experiencing one of the most rapid rates of extinction in the world due to habitat loss, land degradation, and invasive alien plants.[6]

Table Mountain National Park

Cederberg Wilderness Area

Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area

Mountain Complex (Limietberg Nature Reserve, Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, Assegaaibosch Nature Reserve, Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve, Kogelberg Nature Reserve)

Boland

De Hoop Nature Reserve

Boosmansbos Wilderness Area

Complex (Swartberg Nature Reserve, Gamkapoort Nature Reserve, Towerkop Nature Reserve)

Swartberg

Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve

In 2004, the "Cape Floral Region Protected Areas" were inscribed as a World Heritage Site. The site includes eight representative protected areas:

Conservation International: Cape floristic Region – biodiversity hotspot

Cape Action: the Cape floristic Region