The Cape Floral Kingdom, centred around the South Western and Southern Cape, is the smallest but most diverse of the earth's six plant kingdoms. In less than 90 000 square kilometres it hosts 8 600 plant species, 5 800 of which are endemic. (Compare this to the British Isles which is three and a half times larger and has only 1500 plant species!)

Words and even photographs can not do justice to the extravagant beauty and diversity of the Cape flora. The slides will give some inkling of the visual pleasures in store but the keen observer can discover their own magical world by delving beyond the obvious in any fynbos patch. It is still possible, in places, to experience some of the excitement of the 18th Century explorers and plantsmen who introduced many South African plants to European gardens. Species nova are still being discovered!

Fynbos makes up 4/5ths of the Cape Floral Kingdom with another four component vegetation types being Renosterveld, Succulent Karoo, Subtropical Thicket and Afromontane Forest.

Fynbos is the name given to a fire-prone vegetation type which grows on the nutrient poor Table Mountain Sandstone derived soils. It is dominated by flowering shrubs of varying growth forms:
· Proteoids - shrubs with mostly magnificent flowers and large leaves
· Ericoids - heath-like shrubs (3 000 species) The diversity of the genus Erica is astounding and the flowers of most of its 650 species are exquisite.
· Restioids or Cape Reeds - subtly beautiful and delicate reed-like plants with species varying in size from 300mm to 3 metres
· Geophytes - bulbous plants (the richest geophyte flora of the world
with 1 400 species, including ground orchids and gladioli amongst many)

Renosterveld shrubland is also fire-prone and superficially resembles fynbos. However it lacks the restiods; proteoids are extremely rare; and it grows in clay-rich soils where annual rainfall is between 250 and 600 millimetres. This is the most endangered vegetation type of the Cape Floral Kingdom due mainly to replacement by farming.

Succulent Karoo vegetation is sparse and dominated by dwarf shrubs most of which have succulent leaves. It is not fire-prone and occurs in areas with nutrient rich soils where annual rainfall is less then 250 millimetres. The succulent karoo flora matches that of fynbos in diversity, peculiarity and international significance - it has the highest number of plant species of any semi-arid area and the richest succulent flora in the world with more than 1000 species being classified as rare and endangered. Displays of spring annuals after rain are spectacular.

Sub-tropical Thicket vegetation is a dense, often impenetrable shrubland or low forest situated east of the fynbos regions. It occurs in nutrient rich soils in areas relatively well protected from fires such as river valleys, rock screes and outcrops, termite mounds and coastal dunes.

Afromontane Forest is a temperate forest type which displaces sub-tropical thicket vegetation where annaul rainfall is greater than 800 millimetres. It is confined to fire and wind protected sites with year-round moisture and grows in deep soils that are more fertile than fynbos soils. This forest type is associated with the high mountains of Africa, occurring in small 'forest islands' from the Cape Peninsula, along the eastern mountain ranges and uplands to the high plateaus of Ethiopia. Near Knysna in the Southern Cape this forest type covers an area of more than 60 000 hectares.