SANBI staff , with the assistance of our taxonomists, are compiling a flora of the Eastern Cape.

Stretching from coast to high mountain peaks and covering the area where the winter and summer rainfall patterns meet, the Eastern Cape displays remarkable botanical diversity. The vegetation of South Africa includes nine biomes of which six (Savanna,Grassland, Nama- Karoo, Forest, Fynbos and Thicket) are represented in the Eastern Cape. Based on the complexity of topography, climate and vegetation patterns, the area is home to a mosaic of about 8 383 species.

The Eastern Cape Flora will be one of the SANBI regional floras, which together will form a Flora of South Africa. Examples of completed regional floras are Cape Plants by Manning and Goldblatt (2000) and Plants of the Northern Provinces by Retief and Herman (1997). For more details on these completed publications please see the Streltizia section Publications/Bookshop pages or SANBI library catalogs.

Other objectives of the Eastern Cape Flora

• To contribute towards the alleviation of poverty in the Eastern Cape (EC) by enhancing education and tourism.
• To contribute towards the conservation of the flora in the EC that is of global significance.
• To extend and consolidate the knowledge of the flora in the EC and provide a basis for ongoing studies.
• To undertake collecting trips to under-collected areas in the EC and to increase collections to benefit EC universities and herbaria.

Flora of Eastern cape publication
Publication is scheduled for late 2009. It is hoped that it will be possible to provide the Eastern Cape Flora in both print and electronic format.

For more information contact Dr Christien Bredenkamp.