Checklist of plant species of the coastal fynbos and rocky head­ lands, south of George, South Africa

A checklist of vascular plants and cryptograms was compiled for the fynbos and rocky headland communities of the coastal region south of George The area studied is a 12 km stretch of steep sandstone cliffs forming alternating bays and headlands situated between Glentana and Wilderness. The plant communities of the natural vegetation inhabiting the coastline are a mixture of coastal thicket, riparian thicket, fynbos and rocky headland types. The extent of natural vegetation has been reduced by the spread of agricultural land and urban development and is under further threat from the spread of naturalised alien invader species, particularly Acacia cyclops . The checklist records the occurrence of 271 taxa including 16 alien species (6% of taxa). Of the flowering plant species recorded, 6% were regional or local endemics.


INTRODUCTION
The study area is a 12 km section of coastline south of George extending from Rooiklip, southeast of Pacaltsdorp, to Ghwanobaai, 3 km east of Glentana (see Hoare et al. 2000 for details). It includes a band of vegetation within 500 m of the high tide mark on steep sandstone cliffs which form alternating bays and headlands. The plant communities of the natural vegetation along the coastline are a mixture of coastal thicket, riparian thick et, fynbos and rocky headland types. The study was con fined to the fynbos and rocky headland vegetation. Riparian thicket, dune thicket, dense alien stands and agricultural lands were not sampled. Rainfall along this section of coastline occurs throughout the year, but with three distinct peaks in spring, summer and autumn (Hoare et al. 2000). Because of its close proximity to the sea. vegetation structure and composition are greatly influenced by oceanic winds. The extent of the natural vegetation has been reduced by the spread of agricultur al land and urban activities and is under further threat from the spread of naturalised alien species, particularly Acacia cyclops.
This study area falls into that part of the Fynbos Biome called Limestone Fynbos of the Mossel Bay District (Low & Rebelo 1996) of which ± 14% is con served and 40% transformed, although the recent procla mation of the Agulhas National Park may affect these statistics. The particular study area is of interest because of its scenic beauty and its location in the centre of the Garden Route-a popular tourist attraction. Most of the study area is owned by private landowners who have used the land mostly for agriculture (in places agricultur al lands extend to within a few metres of the summit of the coastal cliffs), but also for plantation forestry on a Disturbances related to all these activities have resulted in invasion by alien trees and shrubs, particularly Acacia cyclops. Pinus species have spread from the plantations and are also a potentially serious threat.
The aim of this work was to provide a checklist of the plant species along this stretch of coastline that can act as a basic reference for floristic and ecological work and as a baseline for future development in the region. This checklist forms a link between checklists and floristic studies done for the Western Cape coastal region (Boucher 1977;Taylor 1985), southern Cape coast (Hellstrom 1990;Hoare 1994;Van der Merwe 1979) and the Eastern Cape coast (Lubke 1983;Lubke et al. 1988;Cloete & Lubke 1999). This provides the opportunity for comprehensive examination of floristic gradients along the coastal region of the Fynbos Biome.

METHODS
Fieldwork was done in all four seasons of the year to cover as many flowering times as possible. Voucher specimens of most taxa were deposited in the National Herbarium, Pretoria, and additional taxa listed were obtained from sight records made during the course of fieldwork. The herbarium collection at PRE was consult ed to obtain records of plant species previously collected in the study area, and these were added to the checklist.
All of the 20 largest genera listed for the Cape flora by Bond & Goldblatt (1984) are represented in this coastal area, as are 13 of the 15 largest families. O f the 16 alien species recorded, Acacia cyclops was by far the most abundant.
Some 230 flowering plant species were classified according to phytogeographical range and affinity (Table  3). It was found that 35% are endemic to the Fynbos Biome and 7% are regional (southern Cape) endemics and one was a local endemic-Silene vlokii, which has a restricted range from Herold's Bay to Glentana.

DISCUSSION
Asteraceous Coastal Fynbos is defined as having high asteraceous and non-ericaceous ericoid cover and often high grass cover (Cowling 1992 A comparison of the flora of the study area with those of the Goukamma Nature Reserve (Table 4) shows that the number of species and genera in the present study area is comparatively high in relation to its size, espe cially considering that not all vegetation types were sam pled. Goukamma Nature Reserve is a larger area but with  fewer species, indicating that there is lower diversity in the Dune Fynbos and thicket vegetation of that region compared with the communities along the rocky shore and promontories of this study area. This coastal region therefore has a surprisingly high diversity for such a small area, probably due to its abundance of microhabi tats. Further studies encompassing the non-fynbos vege tation types should be carried out to contribute to the knowledge of this relatively understudied and poorly conserved region.