Namaqualand: A Succulent Desert

by Richard Cowling

Overview

Namaqualand – a desert of succulents. From dwarf species barely a few millimetres tall to trees several metres high, the range of succulent plants in this seemingly desolate region is unrivalled in both its extent and its variety of forms. Tiny plants that resemble flowering stones dot a plain of quartz; a minute 'garden' fills a rock crevice; an exuberant burst of vygies colours a patch of veld.
About a third of the 3000 or so plant species in Namaqualand are succulents, and they include the largest concentration of miniature succulent species in the world. But there is much more. Namaqualand's bulb flora is the richest of any arid region on earth: amaryllids, irids, lilies and many more, all presenting an astonishing diversity of colour and form. Add to these the spectacular vistas of spring-flowering annuals for which Namaqualand is most famous, and the result is a truly remarkable flora, unrivalled elsewhere on earth.
Yet for many years it has been overshadowed by the Cape Floral Kingdom to the south. In this exploration of a harsh wonderland, Richard Cowling and Shirley Pierce embark on redressing the balance, and in doing so discover climatic and other factors that have contributed to Namaqualand's rich flora. They reveal intriguing details of how plants survive a range of adverse conditions and, following the cycle of seasons, they highlight extraordinary facets of the plants' reproduction, including intricate relationships with insect pollinators.
Complementing the text, Colin Paterson-Jones's magnificent photographs capture the vibrant colours of Namaqualand's flora, in both panorama and detail conveying the essence of this awe-inspiring land.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781928213321
Publisher:	Penguin Random House South Africa
Publication date:	11/05/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	156
File size:	59 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Richard Cowling is a professor in the Botany Department at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in the Eastern Cape. He has published extensively on the ecology and conservation of the fynbos, succulent karoo and subtropical thicket biomes in the scientific and popular literature, and is widely acclaimed for his contribution to the theory and application of conservation science.
Shirley M. Pierce PhD is a Science Communication consultant based in Cape St Francis. A plant ecologist, she has extensive experience in editing scientific and popular texts. She co-authored Namaqualand: A succulent desert (Fernwood Press, 1999), co-edited Vegetation of Southern Africa (Cambridge, 1997) and Mainstreaming Biodiversity in South Africa (World Bank, 2002), and was editor of Veld&Flora in the early 1990s. Shirley has a particular interest in enhancing public awareness of the value of natural systems, in particular among decision makers.
The late Colin Paterson-Jones, previously a research chemist, in 1989 became a professional natural history photographer and writer with a special interest in photographing wild flowers and their interaction in nature with birds, animals and insects. He was the sole photographer for Marie Vogt’s South Africa’s Proteaceae (1982), Proteaceae of Southern Africa (1988), and The Garden Route (1990), as well as Fynbos – South Africa’s Unique Floral Kingdom (1995) and Namaqualand – A Succulent Desert (1999). He researched, wrote and illustrated the two hiking guides Table Mountain Walks (1991), and Garden Route Walks (1992), and wrote and illustrated Beautiful Wild Flowers (1996), The Cape Floral Kingdom (1997) and The Protea Family in Southern Africa (2000). In 1995 he was awarded the Botanical Society of South Africa’s first Percy Sergeant Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of botanical photography.