Illustrated Guide to the Wildflowers of Northern South Africa, by Gerrit Germishuizen und Brenda Clark

Illustrated Guide to the Wildflowers of Northern South Africa, by Gerrit Germishuizen und Brenda Clark. Briza Publications. Pretoria, South Africa 2003. ISBN 9781875093397 / ISBN 978-1-875093-39-7

Illustrated Guide to the Wildflowers of Northern South Africa. Illustrations by Brenda Clark (1917-2012).

The arrangement of Gerrit Germishuizen's und Brenda Clark's Illustrated Guide to the Wildflowers of Northern South Africa follows the order set out in the two volumes of 'The genera of southern African flowering plants' by R. A. Dyer and in 'Seed plants of southern Africa: families and genera' by O. A. Leistner.

Gerrit Germishuizen  Brenda Clarke  

(...) The species, subspecies and variety names are according to Plants of southern Africa: names and distribution by T. H. Arnold & B. C. de Wet (editors) published in 1993. They are placed in eight major colour categories, namely white/cream-coloured flowers, pink flowers, yellow/orange flowers, blue flowers, mauve/purple flowers, red flowers, brown flowers and green flowers. These categories are based on the general colour impression of the flower. In many species the flowers have more than one colour form and these are then mentioned under each taxon. Within each of the colour categories the species fall under their respective families. The more well known exotic or alien weeds, such as Californian poppy, cosmos, garden ageratum, Mexican poppy, pom-pom weed, redstar zinnia and wild verbena, have also been included in this publication to make the reader aware of the spread of these competitive plants in our natural vegetation. As a result of the large number of taxa that are included, the text is presented as concisely as possible, with symbols indicating the habitat of each species. English and Afrikaans vernacular names are included where appropriate. The plant families relevant to this book are briefly introduced, in alphabetical order, where possible giving characters to distinguish them from each other. To make botanical terms more comprehensible to the lay person, a botanical glossary is provided on page 206. Separate indexes for scientific and common names are given at the end of the book. Northern South Africa for the purposes of this publication covers the four northern provinces: Limpopo, North-West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, occupying roughly an area of 325000 km² north of the Vaal River and supporting a diversity of flora. The region extends from about 22°40' to 32°00' E and from 22°10' to 28°00' S. The altitude ranges from about 300 m in the lowveld in the east, to the wide plains of the Kalahari basin around 1000 m in the west, the extensive high veld between 1500 and 2000 m, to the highest mountain peaks of the eastern escarpment at about 2300 m. The climate, which is temperate in winter with frost on the highveld and hot in summer when the region receives most of its annual rainfall, plays an important role in the distribution of certain species. There are two distinct rainfall zones, namely the western zone with 380 to 710 mm average rainfall and the eastern zone with 500 to 1000 mm per annum. The western zone stretches from the Limpopo River valley to the Waterberg Mountains, while the eastern zone encompasses the escarpment and the lowveld. Both areas support an abundance of plant types specially adapted to local conditions. According to Rutherford & Westfall (1994), there are two major biomes found in northern South Africa, the Grassland Biome and the Savanna Biome. The grassland, roughly making up 16.52 % of South Africa's vegetation, is largely restricted to the highveld in the central and southern parts of this region as far as the eastern escarpment. The areas to the north, west and east are mostly classified as savanna (locally known as bushveld), representing roughly 46.16 % of South Africa's vegetation cover. (...)

This is an excerpt from the book: Illustrated Guide to the Wildflowers of Northern South Africa, by Gerrit Germishuizen und Brenda Clark.

Title: Illustrated Guide to the Wildflowers of Northern South Africa
Authors: Gerrit Germishuizen, Brenda Clark
Publisher: Briza Publications
Pretoria, Souith Africa 2003
ISBN 9781875093397 / ISBN 978-1-875093-39-7
Softcover, 11x21 cm, 224 pages, 614 colour paintings