Submitted by David on
The sandveld area occurs along the west coast of South Africa. In this book, watercolour paintings by Hilda Mason are beatifully illustrated with over 500 spectacular representations of flowering plants from this region. Represented at life size in the book, she manages to incorporate the important characteristics of each plant independent of its size. Brief descriptions of each species and family have been undertaken primarily by Enid Du Plessis. This is accompanied by descriptions of the distribution, habitat, flowering time and the Latin/Greek etymologies. Local common names are provided as well as some medicinal, edible and local uses.
The introduction includes a historical overview of the area including arrival of western settlers and their records of indigenous peoples knowledge of the plants. It includes an overview of the vegetation and the effect of grazing and veld-management on the natural flora.
