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Table
Mountain is well known for it's floral biodiversity, which mainly consists of
fynbos (pronounced fayn-bos) which is the Afrikaans word meaning "fine
bush" and from the Dutch word "fijn bosch".
Here you
will find over 1500 species of plants. Fynbos consists of four major plant groups,
namely: Proteas, which is a large shrub with broad leaves; Erica's, which are
heath like and are low growing shrubs; Restios, which are read like plants and
are the only group that are found in all fynbos habitats; Geophytes - bulbs -
these include watsonia's and disa's, both of which occur mainly in wetland areas
and are prominent after fires. Fynbos is a vegetation that is fire dependent in
that it needs to burn approximately every 15 years in order to stimulate new growth
and to ensure that plant and animal communities remain healthy.
Sadly, if
the area experiences fire too often this can be destructive to the ecosystem because
when young fynbos that is not yet seed bearing burns, seed banks are depleted
which can change the diversity of plant species in the area. Unfortunately, fires
on Table Mountain are quite common. The last big fire on this mountain was in
January 2006, which resulted in the death of a tourist and large amounts of vegetation
being destroyed.
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