African Wildlife & Environment Issue 84 2023

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

Typical Strandveld community where the dominant species here is Olea exasperata – the Dune Olive

Specialists on Coastal sandy sites Acocks classified this vegetation type as Strandveld – with major blocks occurring north of Cape Town and along the coast east to Gqeberha - and even as far north as East London. In the latest vegetation description by Mucina and Rutherford they have a slightly different interpretation of this vegetation type - dividing it into Western Strandveld in the west and Sub tropical Thicket in the east (with a distribution extending much further north). Personally, I much prefer Acocks’ classification as for me this vegetation type occurs only along the coast and some of the key woody elements that define this type are almost confined to the CFR. Here I refer specifically to Olea exasperata, Euclea racemosa and Rapanea gilliana. RIGHT ABOVE a heavily fruiting O. exasperata and BELOW flowers on Euclea racemosa, another Strandveld CFR endemic characteristic of this plant community on coastal sandy sites

Prof Eugene Moll Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

University of the Western Cape eugenemoll74@gmail.com

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