ABSTRACT
South Africa, in particular its winter rainfall zone, has the world’s richest assemblage of native geophytes (Duncan 2006). Stretching from the Richtersveld in the far northwestern corner of the Northern Cape to Port Elizabeth in the southern part of the Eastern Cape, the area is characterized by the Mediterranean type of climate with cool rainy winters and dry summers, and is home to approximately 2100 geophytic species. Within this area, the greatest concentration falls in the southwest, in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), extending from the Bokkeveld Mountains north of Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape, to Caledon in the Overberg region of the Western Cape. The vast summer rainfall parts of South Africa have relatively few geophytes, and the total number for the whole country exceeds 2500 species (Duncan 2010a).
