2010 marks the 10th anniversary of SANBI’s PlantzAfrica.com website, which hosts the Plants of the Week series.  This infobase about popular South African plants now boasts over 1100 entries. New Plants of the Week articles have been featured every week since the inception of the website, with regular visitors checking the site every Monday for the new entries.

PlantzAfrica.com was launched in 2000. The first Plant of the Week appeared on 31 July 2000 and described Strelitzia reginae, a flower which forms part of SANBI’s logo.  Over the years this series has gone from strength to strength, steadily enlarging the body of internet accessible information about popular southern African plants.  At present almost 10 000 pages are downloaded from this website daily.

This service forms part of SANBI’s mandate to provide information on the flora of SA.  The articles are written by staff in the nine National Botanical Gardens and Research and Biodiversity sections of SANBI.  Kirstenbosch staff have regularly provided a new entry every week for over a decade.

The PlantzAfrica.com website provides detailed information on SA plants, including uses and how to grow the plants.  Information about the distribution, habitat, ecology, uses  and derivation of the plant’s name is also provided.  The site also hosts other miscellaneous information which is commonly requested.

This website is targeted mainly at the general public and not the scientific community. Feedback has indicated that people wanting to grow our plants form a very large portion of readers. They particularly value the cultivation and landscaping information provided on PlantzAfrica.com. The website audience includes local and international gardeners, learners, students, floral tourists and growers and marketers of SA plant products.

Plants of the Week articles can be accessed each week on our websites www.sanbi.org and www.plantzafrica.com.