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Flora
Flora enthusiasts will be in paradise in South Africa. In no other country in the world is the evolution of indigenous flora as distinct as it is in South Africa.
 South Africa's floral wealth represents some 10% of the total number of flowering species in the world. A mix of tropical and temperate climates yield five major habitat types, namely fynbos, forest, Karoo, grassland and savannah - each with its own diversity of species. South Africa is the only country to have within its borders an entire plant kingdom, the Cape Floral Kingdom, which has the highest recorded species diversity for any similar sized temperate or tropical region in the world - approximately 8,500 species.
Cape flora habitat
The Cape flora habitat is one of the six recognized floral kingdoms of the world, and is the only floral kingdom found entirely within the boundaries of one country. In the Cape Peninsula, there are more species of wild plants than in the
entire British Isles. The habitat occurs mainly in the Western Cape within an area of about 70,000 sq km. It is mainly a winter or year-round rainfall area, and consequently the vegetation is similar to that of the Mediterranean.
"Fynbos" is the name given to a group of evergreen plants with small, hard leaves (such as the Erica family). It is made up of three groups of plants, namely the proteas, the heathers and the restios, and incorporates a diversity of plant species (over 8,500 kinds, of which more than 6,000 are endemic). The Cape landscape is home to the protea for which South Africa is famous. It also contains flowering plants now regarded as garden plants, such as freesia, nerine, tritonia, sparaxis and many others.
Grassland
The Grasslands have been identified as regions of many indigenous plants. The Grasslands have summer rainfall and a number of perennial rivers flow through them, such as the Orange, Vaal, Pongola Ke and Umzimvubu rivers. Trees are scarce and found mainly on hills and along riverbeds. The wilderness areas of the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg are the most significant.
Savannas
Generally known as the Bushveld, these are areas of mixed grassland and trees. In the northern parts, the portly baobab and the candelabra tree predominate. The central Bushveld is home to species such as the bush-willow, monkey thorn, knob-thorn, mopani and the wild fig.
Arid regions
The vegetation of the arid regions is mainly low scrubland and grass, with trees limited to the watercourses. Because of low rainfall, rivers are non-perennial. The summer has high temperatures and the winter is cold and frosty, conditions that require special adaptation by the plants.
This semi-desert is slowly encroaching on the neighboring savannah and grassland, due to overgrazing and the easily eroded topsoil.
During the spring rains from August to October, the semi-desert of the Northern Cape is transformed into a floral fairyland. The annual blossoming of the Namaqualand wild flowers is one of the natural wonders of South Africa. The drab landscape is suddenly covered with a multi-colored carpet. This is a winter rainfall area. The summers are extremely dry, with temperatures often reaching 44°C. Succulents with thick, fleshy leaves flourish.
Trees have white trunks to reflect heat. In the Richtersveld area, to the north, the quiver tree, spekboom , aloe and the human-like elephants trunk tree are typical. Grass is scarce. The founding of Richtersveld and the Tankwa-Karoo National Parks have improved the conservation status of the succulent Karoo habitat considerably.
Forests
Reasonably large areas of officially protected forests are found in the high rainfall region of the eastern escarpment and on the eastern seaboard. Significant forests are found in the Knysna and Tsitsikamma forests of the Western and Eastern Cape. Softwoods are scarce and consequently plantations of coniferous pines from America and Europe have to be planted to provide the country with timber, wood and paper pulp (huge yellowwood, ironwood and lemonwood predominate).
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