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Drakensberg flowers in all their glory

2004; Wiley; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1366-9516.2004.00088.x

1472-4642

Richard Field,

African Botany and Ecology Studies

Pooley, E. (2003) Mountain flowers: a field guide to the flora of the Drakensberg and Lesotho. The Flora Publications Trust, Durban, South Africa. 320 pp., colour photographs, maps, line diagrams, glossary. Hardback: price R338 (South African Rand), ISBN 0-620-30222-4. Softback: price R179, ISBN 0-620-30221-6. The book can be purchased outside South Africa for £25 + p&p, US$50 inc. airmail p&p. Over New Year 2003/04, instead of the usual UK-based celebrating in style with friends and a few too many drops of wine, I went on a five-day hike in the World Heritage uKhahlamba-Drakensberg area of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. I have walked quite often in the spectacularly beautiful Lesotho/KZN Drakensberg — surely one of the most beautiful places in the world, with its expansive views, sheer cliffs sometimes falling more than 1000 m, garden-plant botany and occasional Bushman rock art! But this was the first overnight walking I’d done there, which allowed me and my companions to get further away from civilization than before. It also allowed more time to potter around botanizing. We were lucky because, after a dry spring, it had rained in December, so a wide variety of both spring and summer flowers abounded. What a wonderful thing to have to watch where you tread because there are so many orchids and other gems of the natural world (such as the gorgeous Zaluzianskya microsiphon) lining the ground beneath your feet! We had with us the newly published Mountain flowers by Elsa Pooley, and I loved it immediately. Pooley is known in the region for her love of the indigenous plants, which she has studied, painted, written about and grown for over 20 years; she also takes guided tours, in which she shows people the indigenous flora of KZN. Her enthusiasm and desire to help people discover the beauty of both the Drakensberg mountains themselves and their flora are clearly evident in this marvellous book. On the back cover it is claimed that Pooley's ‘knowledge and versatility [bridge] the divide between the popular and the academic’. Such a statement is easily made in publicity material, but in this case it is warranted. A good example is the way in which she deals with the names of the flowers. For a start, the Latin name is given in all cases, along with the common names in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho, etc., where applicable. In addition the Latin names are explained. For instance, here is the entry for the well-known garden-plant genus the red-hot pokers: ‘Kniphofia– Red-hot pokers (Named after JH Kniphof, 1704–1763, prof. of medicine at Erfurt Univ) Mostly Afr, ±70 species, 47 in SAfr, ±15 in this region. Kniphofia species hybridise readily in the wild, making identification difficult at times.’ Each particular species contains more, for example ‘Kniphofia ritualis… (ritualis— refers to the fact that this plant is used during initiation rites for girls in Lesotho)’; and ‘Kniphofia angustifolia… (angustifolia— narrow leaves)’. There is also brief information on each family: number of genera and species known in the family world-wide, the continents the family is native to, and the number of genera of the family found in South Africa and in the Drakensberg region specifically. Brief explanations are given of higher-order groups such as monocots, dicots, ferns, conifers and cycads. In terms of identification, again Pooley tries to help the reader out, accommodating the needs of the novice without patronising the expert. Bold lettering indicates the most useful diagnostic features for each species (something I found particularly helpful); the index is excellent; there is a short but useful bibliography and a list of contact addresses. And there is a glossary that explains and illustrates those technical terms like ‘caudex’, ‘epicalyx’, ‘rachis’, ‘obovate’ and ‘scalloped’ that so confuse non-experts (such technical terms are kept to a minimum in the text). Over and above all this, the book is packed full of photographs, distribution maps (within the Drakensberg/Lesotho region; derived from herbarium records), and information about medicinal and other uses of the plants. Over 1000 plant species are covered, each with at least one high-quality colour photograph — in total there are over 1300 colour plates (including some scenery shots), as well as simple line drawings of leaves and flowers, where these help with identification. Yet the book is not too big (only 320 A5 pages) and can easily be carried into the field, even if you are also carrying your food and bedding for 5 days! The softback version, encased within protective plastic, is robust and has clearly been designed for field use. The cost of this robustness is that both the softback and the hardback versions are a bit heavier (the softback is 700 g) than they would be, had the paper been of lesser quality. I would recommend the book not just for excursions, but also for general interest. My experience already suggests that many people here in the UK (especially those with an interest in gardening) will find it fascinating to see photos of so many familiar plants in their natural setting, and to learn a bit about how these plants got their names. The book has been written and produced with great care and attention to detail — as was the case in Pooley's previous books Trees of Natal, Zululand & Transkei and Wild flowers of KwaZulu-Natal & the Eastern Region. The only faults I could find are that the colours of the flowers as illustrated don’t always match the typical colours of observed specimens (Pooley does warn us on p. 17 that colours vary considerably); this matters because the book is organized in sections according to flower colour. Some of the distribution information is rather dubious (for example, we were finding the exquisite Drakensberg endemic Moraea alpina at much lower altitudes than just the stated 2680–3200 m) but this probably reflects the incomplete state of current knowledge. I have also been told of two or three species that are not in the book, but are in the region; again, this is hardly surprising. All in all, this is a remarkable book, at an even more remarkable price. The price is so low because all the photographs in the book were donated by academics and enthusiasts, and because of the contributions of the numerous sponsors listed at the beginning of the book. Thanks must go to such generous people. Rather than the usual hangover, my wife Lucy and I started the year with one of the most beautiful views you could ever wish to see. We’ll be doing it again, and Pooley's book will be one of the first things in my backpack.