Cape Flats Dune Strandveld

It covers and stabilises sand dunes on the beaches around Cape Town, and is incredibly colourful in spring when it bursts into flower.

More than half of the Cape’s Strandveld has been lost to urbanisation and the building of beach resorts, and only 14 percent of this unique vegetation type is actually conserved.

Historically, dense forests of large Milkwood trees used to exist at Noordhoek, Olifantsbos, Macassar and Gordons Bay.

Plants that are naturally found in Cape Strandveld include shrubs such as Chrysanthemoides monilifera, Olea exasperata, Metalasia muricata, Roepera flexuosum, Rhus laevigata and Rhus glauca; succulents such as Sour figs (Carpobrotus acinaciformis and Carpobrotus edulis) and Mesembryanthemum species; Restios; herbs such as geraniums and a great variety of daisies (Senecio elegans, Senecio burchellii, Dimorphotheca pluvialis and many others).

Larger trees that are indigenous to coastal Strandveld include: [3] There are also endemic plant species such as Lampranthus tenuifolius.