A tremendous number of plants growing in local gardens have been borrowed from countries around the world. Indeed, the planting around a typical Southern California home is likely to include woody and herbaceous plants from every continent. Most homeowners are not aware of the international character of their gardens. Just as California's population is a melting pot of peoples and cultures, its gardens, too, are remarkable in their diversity.
South African plant connections are very strong in our community. Even a beginning gardener in Southern California quickly learns that many herbaceous plants in cultivation here originated in South Africa. One might start with the group called South African daisies (family Asteraceae), which includes Osteospermum, Gazania, Arctotis, Arctotheca, and Dimorphotheca--all colorful border and hillside herbs of California landscapes. The spectacular Gerbera jamesonii, another daisy, also hails from South Africa. Most of the flamboyant species of Aloe come from South Africa, excluding Aloe vera, which is from Arabia. The brilliantly pigmented flowers of ice plants (family Aizoaceae), such as Lampranthus and Mesembryanthemum, that adorn our California gardens during winter and spring are borrowed from Namaqualand of South Africa. Another African leaf succulent is the extremely popular shrub known as jade plant, Crassula ovata. With their strongly scented leaves and cheerful flowers, the geranium (Pelargonium) is a classic plant for patios and herb gardens, often grown in combination with South African species of Asparagus. Some outdoor favorites of Southern California horticulture are the yellow or white irises (Moraea and Dietes, family Iridaceae), the white-flowered Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa), the eye-popping red blossoms of Clivia miniata and red-hot poker or torch lily (Kniphofia), the yellow daisies of Euryops, and the lavender-flowered shrub Grewia occidentalis. At UCLA, where our school colors are blue and gold, the "blue" of campus landscaping is often provided by African blue lilies, Agapanthus, and blue daisies, Felicia. South African plants are all around us!
But until I recently lived in Cape Town, South Africa, and thereby coexisted, with native South African plants at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, I had not fully realized how many of the prized shrubs and trees grown at UCLA and in the MEMBG originated from southern Africa.
A clear giveaway that a plant originated in South Africa is a reference to the Cape Region in its scientific or vernacular name. The Cape Region includes the southern and southwestern segment of Africa--an area about the size of Indiana--which has such a rich and distinctive flora that it is treated by botanists as its own entity, the Cape Province. A very high percentage of the 9000 native plant species are endemic there (that is, they occur there and nowhere else on earth). From this floristic province comes the showy Cape-honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis), the arborescent Cape-chestnut (Calodendrum capense), the flamboyant perennial Cape-primrose (Streptocarpus), Cape olive (Olea capensis), Cape-myrtle (Myrsine africana), Cape fig (Ficus capensis), and Cape-fuchsia (Phygelius capensis). Another "cape" name, in latinized form, identifies the butterspoon tree (Cunonia capensis), which has magnificent stipules. Cape leadwort (blue Cape plumbago), Plumbago auriculata (known as Cape leadwort or blue Cape plumbago), formerly was named P. capensis, Rhoicissus tomentosa (evergreen grape), which forms interesting tendrils, was called R. capensis.
Another strong hint of a plant originating from South Africa is any reference to the indigenous blacks as kaffir. Today this term is regarded as an ethnic slur, but it remains attached to plants such as the kaffir lily (alternatively called bush lily, Clivia miniata), kaffirboom coral tree (Erythrina caffra), and kaffir-plum (Harpephyllum caffrum). A latinized version of kaffir appears in some scientific binomials, such as Erica caffra, Combretum caffrum, the palm Jujaeopsis caffra, and Rauvolfia caffra.
Around Westwood, two South African species are particularly noteworthy, the bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae) and the giant bird-of-paradise (S. nicolai). Both belong to Strelitziaceae, known in its homeland as the crane-flower family in reference to the large and showy flower that projects from the boat-shaped bract. Strelitzia reginae, whose orange and blue flowers are held aloft on a long inflorescence stalk, is not only the official city flower of Los Angeles but also the logo of Kirstenbosch. Large specimens of S. nicolai may be mistaken as banana plants by the uninformed, but in fact it is easy to tell these plants apart. The giant bird-of-paradise has beautifully organized distichous leaves (that is, leaves that are arranged in two vertical rows), with very large bracts, enclosing blue and white flowers, arising along the trunk. In contrast, true bananas (Musa, family Musaceae) has a helical leaf arrangement and a terminal inflorescence with yellow and red flowers. In South Africa, the crane flowers are pollinated by sunbirds, probing the bracts for the copious nectar.
Wherever native habitat is preserved in the Cape Region, the characteristic vegetation is fynbos (pronounced FEN-boss). South Africa has a mediterranean-type climate, with most precipitation occurring during the winter months, and fynbos is evergreen vegetation that flourishes there on soils that are incredibly nutrient-poor. Like our own native chaparral, fynbos is often destroyed by fire. The plant community is fire-adapted, as is chaparral, to burn and then to resprout and recover rapidly from each fire. In fact, the germination of many fynbos seeds seems to be enhanced by treatment with smoke, presumably in response to acids and oxides that are byproducts of combustion. Shortly after a fire, the bare hillsides may come alive with wonderful displays of geophytes arising from bulbs, corms, and rhizomes, including the blue-flowered Aristea (a genus of irises) and red-flowered Watsonia and Haemanthus.
Dominant vegetation of fynbos includes three groups of plants: proteads, ericoids, and restionads. Proteads (family Proteaceae), the widest-leaved of these plants, have deep roots. Ericoids are shrubs with small, narrow leaves that are typically revolute (that is, rolled inward to the lower side), many of which belong to the genus Erica (family Ericaceae). Restionads (family Restionaceae) are very shallow-rooted monocotyledons that have highly reduced leaves and thereby use their green stems as the chief photosynthetic organs.
To a large extent, South Africa's reputation for having a wide variety of native plants arises from the amazing diversity and beauty of these three groups of dominant groups. Within Proteaceae occur the amazing and huge inflorescences of Protea, often used by florists as the centerpieces of very expensive floral arrangements. There are more than 300 species of Proteaceae endemic to the Cape Province. And Erica is even more amazing, with the Cape flora including nearly 650 species--the highest degree of regional speciation for any genus on earth. Ericas have beautiful tubular to urn-shaped flowers. Growing with Erica are species of other plant families that have independently (convergently) evolved revolute leaves, especially Phylica (family Rhamnaceae). Family Restionaceae in the Cape Province comprises approximately 325 endemic species, some of which (such as thatching reed, Chondropetalum tectorum and Thamnochortus insignis) are highly regarded because their dried stems are the traditional roofing material used throughout South Africa.
Because the soils of South Africa are special in composition and also nutrient-poor, most of the fynbos species are difficult to grow in Southern California without highly altered soil preparations. At MEMBG, we have managed to grow several species of fynbos, including species of Erica, Leucospermum sp., Chondropetalum tectorum, Elegia capensis, and Felicia echinata. Garden volunteers are now attempting to germinate and grow a wide variety of fynbos species to plant in the Mediterranean Section. Particularly spectacular would be silver tree (the protead Leucadendron argenteum), which should grow well in our garden's non-freezing climate.
Although South Africa may not appear to have played a major role in the history of California, as a prime source for many prized plant species, it certainly has had a major impact on horticulture.
ARTHUR C. GIBSON, MEMBG Director