John Yeld
9 August 2007
The quiet Northern Cape town of Nieuwoudtville has long been recognised as "the bulb capital of the world" but it really only shot to international fame after being featured prominently in one of David Attenborough's world-famous nature documentaries, The Secret Life of Plants.
Now, this internationally acclaimed "biodiversity hotspot" is about to achieve further recognition as formal custodian of some of South Africa's unsurpassed floral heritage with the declaration of a new national botanic garden.
The Nieuwoudtville National Botanic Garden, to be officially opened on August 28, will comprise 6,400ha of some of the richest wildflower habitat - particularly bulbous plants - in the world.
Not all contiguous, the major part of the garden will be centred on the famous farm Glen Lyon of conservationist Neil McGregor, which is being bought with funding from the SA National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the non-government organisation Conservation International, and the local Leslie Hill Succulent Karoo Trust.
The town's wild flower reserve, beautiful waterfall, famous kokerboom (quiver tree) forest and part of the spectacular Oorlogskloof reserve area will also be incorporated into the garden.
"Nieuwoudtville is already a wonderful ecotourism hub, but it's needed an anchor for the ecotourism industry which the new botanic garden will provide," said Professor Brian Huntley, the former chief executive of the SA National Bio-diversity Institute, which incorporates South Africa's national botanic garden network.
Because of its "unbelievable" bulb diversity and important geological, soil and bio-diversity features, the area was also extremely important from a research point of view, Huntley said.
"It's an ideal site for the long-term monitoring of climate change, and we want to develop a research facility here to be able to track such changes. So it will be much more than just a botanic garden."
About 1,350 plant species are known to occur on the Bokkeveld Plateau surrounding Nieuwoudtville, and more than 600 of these are found in the vicinity of the town itself.
Some 309 of them are bulbous plants, or geophytes.
This is about 20% of the 1 551 geophytes that occur in the entire Cape floral kingdom, or fynbos, which is four-to-five times richer than comparable Mediterranean-climate regions like California, Western Australia, and the Mediterranean basin.
In some areas around Nieuwoudtville there may be as many as 25 000 bulbous plants per square metre, but it is more usual to find a few hundred, says a SANBI document about the region.
"At this density, a spade-full of soil will contain more than 100 bulbs and corms."
Because four major vegetation types (fynbos, renosterveld, succulent Karoo and dolorite renosterveld) and five bands of different soils that all occur within a very small area around Nieuwoudtville, this region also harbours many endemics - that is, plants that occur only here and nowhere else on earth.
There are 22 endemic species around Nieuwoudtville (Nieuwoudtville endemics) and another 28 on the Bokkeveld Plateau (Bokkeveld endemics).
Unfortunately, this amazing diversity also means that there are a high number of threatened species here.
According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List, 88 plant species from the area are classified as threatened and a further 23 species as possibly threatened (unknown).
Because of the plant life, Nieuwoudtville is also a remarkable place to observe the huge variety of pollinators, some of which "starred" in Attenborough's film. They include many species of long-tongued flies, oil- collecting bees, flies, monkey beetles, moths, and butterflies, as well as birds - especially sunbirds - and rodents.
"Many of the fascinating interactions that make the fynbos and succulent karoo regions so unique are found in the Nieuwoudtville area," says the SANBI document.
"Long-tongued flies are a special feature of the pollination systems in fynbos and renosterveld vegetation where butterflies are often quite scarce.
"They are associated with flowers that have long corolla tubes."
Although the major flower season is spring, Nieuwoudtville is also famous for some very conspicuous plants that flower in autumn - particularly the spectacular autumn displays of the candelabra-like Brunsvigia that carpet the koppies in pink.
Nieuwoudtville has become a "Mecca" for botanists and flower lovers, and visitors' books boast an impressive number of pilgrims from far and wide, says SANBI.
"To get the most out of the Bokkeveld, you must take your time, don't rush along - it's not uncommon to find up to 50 different species within one square metre of renosterveld!
"There are so many different types, colours and shapes of flowers that in the end one's head is left spinning!
"The pleasures of Nieuwoudtville are like an expensive champagne, to be enjoyed slowly, taking in the delights of each sip and always leaving you wanting more."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Cape Argus. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
