AS I mentioned last week, I have two very special plants in my garden, Tephrosia pondoensis and Syzygium pondoense, that remind me I live on the edge of a particularly rich floral centre.
Known as the Pondoland Centre of Endemism, it stretches roughly from Port St Johns through to Oribi Gorge and is only about 180 000 hectares in size. Although small, it is one of South Africa’s most environmentally significant areas as it contains a wealth of plants including many endemics – that is, plants that occur nowhere else in the world.
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The late Tony Abbott, a renowned botanist from Port Edward, was passionate about the Pondoland Centre, which he described as a region of wonder, delight and excitement.
In his wonderful ‘Story of the Pondoland Centre’, published in the Plantlife journal in 2006, he had this to say about it:
“Wild places, precipitous streams with secluded waterfalls, towering cliffs, pounding seas and everywhere an amazing array of plants both rare and common.”
Many indigenous gardeners in this area celebrate the fact that we live alongside such botanical riches by cultivating what they call ‘Pondoland specials’, including the two I have mentioned, in their gardens.
Both my Pondoland specials are not only rare endemics but are wonderful garden subjects, too.
Tephrosia pondoensis, as its sweet pea-shaped flowers and its pods suggest, belongs to the pea or Fabaceae plant family. It goes by the common name of Pondo poison pea. In his book, ‘Pooley’s Trees’, Richard Boon describes this endangered plant as a rare shrub or small tree that grows on sandstone in forests and margins, on moist slopes and along drainage lines.
As a garden plant it is a dainty little bush that doesn’t call attention to itself until it flowers in a bright burst of orange blooms. I obtained mine from a specialist indigenous nursery quite a few years ago and it has done well in my coastal garden.
Syzygium pondoense or the Pondo Umdoni, is a cousin of the better known Syzygium cordatum – umdoni or waterberry tree – that is commonly found in many of our coastal gardens.
Found on the Msikaba Formation sandstone that underlies the Pondoland Centre, Syzygium pondoense is classed as rare. I greatly prize my Pondo waterberry, not only because it is a rarity but because it is just such a gorgeous shrub. Red twigs and new leaves give the leathery green foliage an attractive blush. At times this plant is completely covered inh fluffy white, typical waterberry flowers that eventually turn into showy purple berries.
If you would like to sample the floral delights of the Pondoland Centre of Endemism, there are three easily accessible reserves in our area that showcase its botanical wealth. Visit the Mtamvuna Nature Reserve on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve inland from Port Shepstone or the Wild Coast’s Mkambati Nature Reserve.
Sadly when visiting the Wild Coast I often see stands of guava trees, a plant brought into our country from South America because of its usefulness as a fruit bearing tree. Unfortunately, it is an invasive plant that multiplies rapidly where soil had been disturbed, displacing the native plants. In a place like the Pondoland Centre, that really is a tragic situation. The guava fruit is eaten by birds and mammals, thereby spreading the plant farther afield, doing more damage.
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