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| Native
Plants of Australia and Southern Africa
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| Plate tectonics,
geology, climate, and bushfires shaped the
flora, fauna, and landscapes of Australia
and Southern Africa. The best places to
see Australian and Southern African plants
in the USA are Huntington
Botanical Gardens, Quail
Botanical Gardens, San
Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, San Francisco
Botanical Garden, University
of California Botanical Garden, UC
Davis Arboretum, UC
Irvine Arboretum, UC
Riverside Botanic Gardens, and UC
Santa Cruz Arboretum. Australian and
Southern African plants can also be viewed in
conservatories at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Longwood
Gardens, and Missouri
Botanical Garden. When I lived
in Canberra, I visited the Australian
National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) almost
every weekend. I went on field trips with
the Field Naturalists Association of Canberra and
National Parks Association (ACT) and 'botanized' nearby natural areas at Black
Mountain, Brindabella
National Park, Kosciuszko
National Park, Namadgi
National Park, and Tidbinbilla
Nature Reserve. Other botanical gardens
and natural areas in Australia that I would
recommend are given in ANBG,
ASGAP
and Directory
of Australian Botanic Gardens. Wittunga
Botanic Gardens, Adelaide, specializes
in the native
plants of Australia and South Africa.
There are eight
national botanical gardens in South Africa
with Kirstenbosch
the most famous. To see the extraordinary
floral diversity of the fynbos,
part of the world's smallest floral kingdom,
visit the Garden Route Botanical Garden,
Kirstenbosch
National Botanical Garden, Harold
Porter National Botanical Garden, and
Agulhas
and Table
Mountain National Parks. The other biodiversity
hotspot in southern Africa is the Succulent
Karoo, examples, of which, can be seen
at Karoo
Desert National Botanical Garden, Goegab
Nature Reserve, and Namaqua,
Richtersveld,
and Tankwa-Karoo
National Parks. |
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| I regularly
visited Zimbabwe's National
Herbarium and Botanic Garden when I
lived in Harare. The Botanic Garden, which
has 900 species of trees and shrubs, has
tried to recreate ecologic zones in Zimbabwe
ranging from rainforest to acacia woodlands
as well as more exotic species. The Tree Society of Zimbabwe sponsored monthly
Botanic Gardens walks led by Dr Tom Müller,
former Head of the Botanic Gardens. Harare
lies in the center of the miombo woodland
belt, savanna woodland dominated by three
Brachystegia species (B. spiciformis, B.
glaucascens, B. boehmii). Several times
a month, I went to the Mukuvisi
Woodland about 5 km from the central
business district of Harare. Mukuvisi consists
of an enclosed game park adjacent to a tract
of natural woodlands with 300 species of
trees and shrubs and 230 bird species. There
has been a lot of environmental degradation
at Mukuvisi due to felling of trees for
firewood, loss of key management personnel,
and a drop in tourism. My favorite botanizing
and birding area was the Ewanrigg
Botanical Garden, about 40 km northeast
of downtown Harare. Ewanrigg consists of
about 24 hectacres of landscaped gardens
specializing in cycads, aloes, and cacti
adjacent to about 283 ha of miombo woodland.
From June to August, the aloes are in flower,
which attracts sunbirds and other nectar
feeders. I met people with similar interests
and learned quite a bit about the indigenous
flora from lectures and excursions organized
by the Tree Society of Zimbabwe and Aloe,
Cactus and Succulent Society of Zimbabwe.
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