Ferry boats and Fossil Fish - Featherbed Nature Reserve Knysna

© Martin Hatchuel 1998 Featherbed Nature Reserve Page 1
Ferry Boats & Fossil Fish
The story of Featherbed Nature Reserve, Knysna
www.knysnafeatherbed.com
January 2002; Revised 2016
© Martin Hatchuel
www.thistourismweek.co.za - martinhatchuel@gmail.com
Contents
INTRODUCTION: THE STORY OF FEATHERBED NATURE RESERVE....................................3
WELCOME TO OUR PIECE OF PARADISE....................................................................................................3
THE FEATHERBED TAVERN IN THE FOOD FOREST ....................................................................................4
NATURAL HERITAGE SITE ........................................................................................................................4
THE BUSHBUCK TRAIL & HISTORIC OLD ROCKET PATH..........................................................................5
PROFESSOR JLB (FISHY) SMITH........................................................................................................7
A LIFE IN ICHTHYOLOGY ..........................................................................................................................7
MARRIAGE, THE FIRST COELACANTH AND AN IMPORTANT CHOICE .......................................................7
A RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF ICHTHYOLOGY – AND A FAMOUS BOOK ................................................8
DEATH OF A GIANT AND BIRTH OF AN INSTITUTE.................................................................................8
MARGARET MARY SMITH...................................................................................................................9
WILLIAM SMITH .....................................................................................................................................9
THE COELACANTH – OLD FOUR LEGS..........................................................................................10
A DEEP SURPRISE ...................................................................................................................................10
THAT VITAL SECOND SPECIMEN.............................................................................................................10
COELACANTHS AROUND THE WORLD ....................................................................................................12
AND FINALLY – A SOUTH AFRICAN COELACANTH COLONY..................................................................13
CONSERVING THE COELACANTH ............................................................................................................13
THE GARDEN ROUTE’S COELACANTH ....................................................................................................14
A BRIEF HISTORY OF KNYSNA ........................................................................................................15
THE NAME KNYSNA .................................................................................................................................15
EARLY COLONIAL SETTLEMENT .............................................................................................................15
KING OR COMMONER?............................................................................................................................16
THE PORT OF KNYSNA ............................................................................................................................16
THE FAMILY BENN .................................................................................................................................17
A MYSTERIOUS GHOST SHIP! .................................................................................................................17
END OF AN ERA .....................................................................................................................................18
MILLWOOD’S GOLD................................................................................................................................18
THE TOWN OF KNYSNA...........................................................................................................................18
APARTHEID AND FORCED REMOVALS ....................................................................................................19
THE VEGETATION AT FEATHERBED.............................................................................................21

THE WORLD’S SIX FLORAL KINGDOMS..................................................................................................21
THE CAPE FLORAL KINGDOM.................................................................................................................22
THE FYNBOS BIOME ...............................................................................................................................22
SOME FYNBOS SPECIES AT FEATHERBED...................................................................................23
IMPORTANT TREES AT FEATHERBED ..........................................................................................32
INVADER PLANTS .................................................................................................................................37
THE MAMMALS .....................................................................................................................................38
MARINE MAMMALS ................................................................................................................................40
CHECKLIST OF BIRDS AT FEATHERBED......................................................................................43
THE AFRICAN BLACK OYSTERCATCHER.................................................................................................45
SOME REPTILES AT FEATHERBED.................................................................................................47
FEATHERBED’S SHORELINE.............................................................................................................51
ROCKY SHORES ......................................................................................................................................51
SANDY SHORES.......................................................................................................................................52
THE KNYSNA LAGOON .......................................................................................................................53
THE ESTUARINE FLOOR ..........................................................................................................................55
THE KNYSNA BASIN PROJECT.................................................................................................................55
GEOGRAPHY OF THE KNYSNA LAGOON.................................................................................................56
COMMON FISHES OF THE KNYSNA LAGOON...........................................................................................57
OYSTERS – KNYSNA’S FAVOURITE EXPORT...............................................................................59
REPRODUCTION – THE OYSTER’S, THAT IS ............................................................................................59
OYSTER FARMING IN KNYSNA................................................................................................................59
KNYSNA’S SMALL FIVE ......................................................................................................................61
THE KNYSNA SEA HORSE HIPPOCAMPUS CAPENSIS ................................................................................61
The Genus Hippocampus - The Sea Horses......................................................................................61
A Male Pregnancy!............................................................................................................................61
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................63
NOTES.......................................................................................................................................................66

Introduction: The Story Of Featherbed Nature
Reserve
Welcome to Our Piece of Paradise
William Smith, the charismatic owner of Featherbed Nature Reserve, always greets his
guests with the words “welcome to our little bit of Paradise.” And Paradise it is: one of
the premier attractions of South Africa’s Garden Route and accessible to the public only
by ferry boat, the Reserve offers visitors a magical, four-hour long enviro-experience or
an adrenaline-thumping adventure tour through one of the most beautiful places in
South Africa - the protected Western Head of the Knysna Lagoon
Most guests choose the four hour Featherbed Tour, which begins with a cruise
across the Lagoon aboard the ultra-modern aluminium Rivercat Ferry, the Spirit of
Knysna. Lunch orders are placed on arrival at Featherbed Tavern in the Food Forest,
and the meal is prepared whilst the guests are out on the Reserve itself (Featherbed Fish
– fresh line fish in lemon and garlic and cooked in pans over real log fires – was
described by one American newspaper as ‘the best meal we ate in South Africa’).
The tour continues with a drive to the very top of the Western Head aboard a
4x4 Unimog land train (the word ‘Head’ is a shortening of ‘headland’ - this is one of
the two peninsulas that jut out into the water and enclose the Knysna Estuary). The
views along the way are nothing short of spectacular, for nature has endowed this
coastline with great beauty.
At the southern end of the Reserve - Thy Kingdom Come – guests may
disembark for the walk back to the Restaurant, or remain on board and return by
vehicle. Those who chose to walk (a wise move), will enjoy the 2.2 km (1 ½ mile)
Bushbuck Trail. Much of the land along the Southern Cape’s coast is inaccessible to the
public, and the Featherbed Tour provides one of the few ways of seeing its hidden
beauty.
Guests are accompanied by trained and knowledgeable guides, and every tour
becomes a voyage of discovery as you learn about the area, its fascinating history and
its amusing characters.
Roughly 150 hectares in size, Featherbed reaches down to the high-water mark
and has a 3 kilometre-long coastline. Its vegetation is a mix of coastal fynbos and
coastal scrub forest, and the land has never been farmed or disturbed by man (in fact,
roads, buildings, dams and infrastructure at Featherbed impact on less than 2% of the
entire property).
The Reserve is owned by the Smith Family Trust. The land was acquired in
three portions – the first, which includes the spectacular cliffs at Thy Kingdom Come,
the caves and Nature’s Arch at the Cave of Africa, was bought by Prof. JLB Smith in
1956, using proceeds from the sale of Old Four Legs, his book about the discovery of
the coelacanth. The second portion, which includes the area in which the restaurant now
stands, was bought by William in 1959, and the third portion was added in 1985.
Featherbed was proclaimed a nature reserve in 1985 and has been open to the
public since then. It was recognised as National Heritage Site in 1987.
Initial development and construction of roads, pathways, water supply and dams
and clearing of invader plants were the responsibility of the Reserve’s first warden,
Mike van Rooyen. Before coming to Knysna, Mike had had extensive experience in
wildlife management and game capture, and had served as second-in-charge of

Zimbabwe’s Operation Noah, saving literally thousands of animals from the rising
waters of the newly-built Kariba Dam. He was guided in his work at Featherbed by the
scientific and field staff of Cape Nature Conservation and by the conservation foresters
of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, who all gave generously of their time
and expertise.
What is today the single biggest tourist attraction in the Garden Route began
very humbly with just three tours a week for a maximum of forty-five people at a time.
Although Mike van Rooyen had laid out the walking trail and the first, rudimentary
roads, the Reserve had no electricity or running water in those very early days: the
restaurant staff brought everything with them when they came to work – including food
and drink, crockery and cutlery, barrels of water for washing the dishes and chemical
toilets for the comfort of the guests. But the outing quickly proved so popular, that the
infrastructure grew to include a permanent restaurant capable of catering for three
hundred people at a sitting, a conference room, an outdoor deck and bar under ancient
milkwood trees, the Bloubokkie Curio shop and the ever-popular display cages for
rehabilitated Knysna loeries, blue duikers from the Reserve’s breeding programme and
an aquarium containing Knysna seahorses*
.
The Featherbed Tavern in the Food Forest
Besides the obvious attractions of its tours and unsurpassed views of the Southern
Cape’s coastline, Featherbed is known around the world for its unique restaurant under
the milkwood tress – the Food Forest. Under the leadership of Jerome Simonis, who
manages the catering and daily operation the Tavern has built up a formidable
reputation for its professionalism, levels of customer service and the excellence of its
cuisine. One American newspaper reporter even went so far as to write that the meal
which she ate at Featherbed was the best shed enjoyed during her entire visit to South
Africa. And her choice of meals? – the famous Featherbed Fish – Melusa, a relative of
the hake family - that is laced with garlic and herbs and poached in lemon juice over
open fires. Served with an unusual selection of fresh salads, Featherbed Fish is the only
choice of most tour companies who regularly visit the Reserve.
The romantic setting of the Food Forest hasn’t escaped the attention of young
lovers, and it is has become a popular venue for weddings and other parties, and the
milkwood trees of the forest have been decorated with 10 000 tiny fairy lights that are
almost invisible during the day, but which transform the forest into a starry wonderland
when they are switched on at night.
The Tavern is also responsible for the catering aboard the group’s luxury lagoon
cruiser, the m.v. John Benn.
Natural Heritage Site
Soon after its proclamation as a reserve, Featherbed was awarded membership of the
country’s National Heritage programme because of it’s unique geographical position
and physical features - the fynbos and forest vegetation and its strandloper caves and
stone age site.
The citation was presented on October 1st
, 1987, and now hangs in pride of
place in the Featherbed Tavern. It reads:
*
See Knysna’s Small Five below

South African
National Heritage Programme
This is to certify that the South African
Nature Conservation authorities have found
Featherbed Nature Reserve
in the ownership of
William Smith
to include highly significant natural features
and objects and to be essential to the
preservation of South Africa’s natural diversity.
For the purpose of recognition and protection,
this area is officially included in the register of Natural Heritage Sites.
It is with great appreciation that I recognise
William Smith
for dedicating this site Number 59 to posterity.
(Signed) PW Botha, State President
The Bushbuck Trail & Historic Old Rocket Path
Much of the Bushbuck Trail follows the historical Rocket Path that was first set out in
1897, and which ran from Smith’s Jetty to the top of Needle Point. The Rocket Path
was built for the use of a life-saving crew whose job it was to shoot a line out to ships in
trouble in the Heads.
The rocket was used for the first time in June of that same year when the
Fredheim, a 440 ton 3-masted barque carrying a cargo of creosote, was wrecked at the
Heads. Rough seas caused the ever-cautious John Benn, the pilot at the Heads, to hoist
the signal for the ship to stand off. But after waiting for more than a week, the ship’s
captain became impatient and tried unsuccessfully to cross the bar. Although the rocket
crew fired ropes, it was the pilot’s crew – who rowed out to help the sailors on board –
that was responsible for saving the sailors’ lives; all except the old sail-maker, whose
body was washed up a week later and who now lies at rest in a Knysna churchyard.
The creosote pollution, which must have seemed much like the oil spills of
today, affected the coastline for more than eighteen months.
Rocket drill continued until 1944, but, although the technique was used
successfully in other parts of the world, it was never fired to save lives off the Western
Head, where jagged rocks would have injured anyone who tried to use the rope to get to
shore.
Although the Rocket Path quickly fell into disuse, it was kept open by JLB
Smith, who acquired the land in 1956, and subsequently by William. When the decision
was taken to offer tours of the newly proclaimed Reserve in 1984, the Rocket Path was
extended by driving it from the milkwood grove just below Needles Point to the vehicle
turnabout at Thy Kingdom Come, and by creating the coastal path between Smith’s
Jetty and the Food Forest with the construction of a retaining wall along the water’s
edge. This route remained in use for another ten years, until the Smiths decided to offer
a more varied alternative by opening the present route - down the steps behind JLB
Rock and along Coffin Bay via the boardwalk - a decision that was to prove popular
with regular customers who could now, for the first time, fully appreciate the beauty of
this exquisite little Bay.

The entire path is now known as the Bushbuck Trail, and covers a distance of
about 2.2 kilometres.

Professor JLB (Fishy) Smith
James Leonard Brierly Smith was born on 26 September, 1897, in the Karoo town of
Graaf Reinet. He attended schools in Noupoort, de Aar and Aliwal North and in 1912
was admitted to the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, matriculating in 1914.
He served in East Africa during the Great War, was discharged for medical
reasons and graduated in 1917 as a BA of the University of the Cape of Good Hope -
with the added distinction of being first in the Union of South Africa in chemistry. At
the close of 1918 he obtained the MSc degree (with distinction) in chemistry and was
awarded the Ebden Scholarship for overseas study.
In 1919 he entered Cambridge University where he carried out research on the
mustard gasses under the direction of Sir Wm. J Pope, and later on photosynthesising
dye-stuffs and related compounds under Dr WH Mills. The results of this work were
published in a series of papers and he received a Ph.D. of the University of Cambridge
in 1922.
He returned to the Union in 1923 and accepted a temporary appointment as
lecturer in chemistry at Rhodes University College, Grahamstown. He was soon asked
to remain in a permanent capacity, and eventually took charge of the Organic Chemistry
department, and turned his attention to the essential oils of a number of South African
plants.
A Life In Ichthyology
The effects of the malaria, dyssentry and other tropical diseases which he suffered
during the East African campaign would affect Smith for the rest of his life, and he was
advised to spend his vacations in the open air. Being a research worker by nature and
keen angler from boyhood, he took up his sport again with intensity but soon found the
scientific side pressing on his notice. Isolated from informed contacts and finding
available literature inadequate, he became involved in the scientific study of fishes, and
in a short time commenced the publication of a number of revisionary papers and began
to serve all the museums in the Eastern Cape Province by classifying their fishes.. This
work attracted attention both at home and overseas and developed to such an extent that
it threatened to overwhelm him: it was only by the greatest exertions that he was able to
cope with the main essentials.
Marriage, The First Coelacanth And An Important Choice
1938 was an important year for Smith: in April he married Margaret Mary
MacDonald, who had studied and worked under him in the Department of Chemistry at
Rhodes University. And in December of that year, the first coelacanth was caught off
the coast of East London: Smith’s remarkable recognition of the fish – from crude
sketch drawn by the young curatrix of the East London Museum, Marjorie Courtney-
Latimer – remains one of the highlights of an astonishingly brilliant career*
.
During the Second World War, Smith continued his research both on fishes and
in chemistry. His work on fishes brought heavy and continuos commitments in this
country and from all parts of the world, and he found it more and more difficult to cope
with the demands on his time. Eventually he was faced with the decision of having to
*
See The Coelacanth – Old Four Legs below

give up one or other of his interests, and, because of the great field of research that lay
open there, his choice fell with ichthyology.
A Research Department Of Ichthyology – And A Famous Book
In 1946 the newly-formed South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR) awarded Smith a research fellowship in ichthyology and Rhodes University
appointed him research professor and he thus became the founder of the only research
department of ichthyology in South Africa.
A group of interested persons who were raising money for a book on South
African fishes approached Smith and he agreed to write what would later become the
standard work of reference – the angler’s bible – which he called ‘The Sea Fishes of
Southern Africa.’ First published in 1949, the book become known as ‘Smith’s Sea
Fishes’ in its fifth revision.
Crude photographic technology coupled with the tendency of fish specimens to
lose their colour soon after leaving the water provided Smith with one of his greatest
problems in the production of the book. His wife, Margaret, who had no prior artistic
training, took on this tremendous task and by dint of sheer hard work, produced a fine
series of colour paintings of our marine fishes (she would later be recognised as one of
the world’s most accomplished fish illustrators).
Death Of A Giant And Birth Of An Institute
JLB Smith died in January of 1968. In his lifetime, he had produced nine books – three
on chemistry and six on ichthyology - and published fourteen scientific papers in
chemistry and over two hundred in ichthyology. He had written more than four hundred
popular and semi-scientific articles for the layman, who, he said, supported his work
through taxation, and should therefore be told something of the excitement of scientific
research. He had described over three hundred and fifty species of fish as new to
science and had almost single-handedly placed South Africa on the ichthyolgical map.
A great intellect with a superb memory, a brilliant and prodigious worker, a man
of incredible drive and enthusiasm, South Africa can be truly proud of this man, one of
her greatest sons.
Sadly, Smith never saw the wonderful JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology,
which was established by the CSIR and Rhodes University to continue his work after
his death. Margaret Smith was appointed its first director, and she assumed the task of
supervising the transition from the old department to the new Institute with
characteristic vigor. Work on the new building began in 1973; it was completed in July
1975 and officially opened in 26 September 1977 – the anniversary of both JLB’s
eightieth and Margaret Mary Smith’s sixty-first birthdays.
Today, the Institute is recognised as one of the best-equipped and most modern
buildings of its kind in the world, and it is a fitting tribute not only to the scholarship of
JLB Smith, but also to the talents and planning abilities of his remarkable wife.
The successful expansion of the institute of Ichthyology and the quality of its
collections and research publications led, in April 1980, to its establishment by the
South African Government as a National Museum. In recent years, the fields of
research have expanded from taxonomy to fish biology, conservation and aquaculture.
Margaret Smith retired as director in 1982, and was succeeded by Prof. Mike Bruton. In
addition to playing a pivotal role in ichthyology in South Africa, the Institute is helping
to develop fish resources in many African Countries.

Margaret Mary Smith
Margaret Mary Smith was one of those rare phenomena of the scientific world – a
legend in her own lifetime. By any standards a remarkable woman, she left an indelible
stamp on the areas of scientific ichthyology and general fish lore, both through the
extension of her husband’s mission and in her own life.
Two important events occurred in the last years of her life: the State President
conferred on her the Order of Meritorious Service (Class 1, Gold) - one of South
Africa’s highest civilian awards – and, in April 1987 Rhodes University recognised her
scientific life’s work and her ambassadorial services to her alma mater by conferring on
her the honorary degree of Doctor of Law (LL.D.) (Honoris Causa).
William Smith
William McDonald Smith was born in 1939, in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, and
was educated at Rhodes University in the City.
He married Jenny Bailey, with whom he has three daughters.
Like his father before him, William began his working life as a research chemist
(although William worked in industry – for South Africa’s giant chemicals company
AE&CI). Early on in his career he realised the need for strong teaching in the fields of
mathematics and physical science and, with the invention of his Island System of
learning, he founded the hugely popular and successful Star Schools in 19 ____. Using
the medium of newspapers and by lecturing to massive audiences in the country’s
biggest auditoria, William helped an entire generation of senior school children to excel
in his chosen subjects. With the growing need to bring his system to a greater number
of scholars, William began broadcasting his lectures on national television. At the
height of their fame, his Learning Channel programmes were broadcast on South
Africa’s SABC 3, as well as to 140 million learners in twenty eight African countries,
and William has become known as television’s Mr. Physical Science.
William made his first visit to Knysna in December of 1939 - at the tender age
of six months (that was the fateful summer vacation during which the first coelacanth
was discovered and brought to the attention of JLB Smith). Since then, he has spent
every possible minute in the town which he loves, although he often commutes to
Johannesburg to fulfil his commitment to a hectic schedule of educational broadcasts
and celebrity appearances on programmes such as the popular ‘A Word or Two.’
William’s contribution to education was recognised at the close of the twentieth
century when, like his father, he was named by the country’s largest circulation paper,
the Sunday Times, as one of the 100 men who made South Africa into the country that
it is today (only two father-son combinations appeared on that list – the Smiths and the
diamond magnates Sir Ernest and Harry Oppenheimer).

The Coelacanth – Old Four Legs
The story of the Coelacanth*
is the story of one of South Africa’s greatest scientific
discoveries. And yet, ironically, it was believed until recently that the coelacanth wasn’t
even a South African fish!
A Deep Surprise
In December 1938, Captain Hendrik Goosen of the Irvin & Johnson fishing trawler
Nerine decided to shoot his trawl off the mouth of the Chalumna River, west of East
London. A cold water up welling had occurred, and this often brought unusual fishes to
the surface. Amongst his catch were a number of unusual sharks, and a huge, bright
blue fish of a type that he had never seen before. It was still alive when it came on
board, but because it was too big to fit into the on-board aquarium, it was left on deck,
where it survived for several hours. It was 150 cm long, and weighed 57.5 kg. Goosen
was in the habit of keeping curious specimens for the East London Museum, and, when
he got into port at East London, he immediately sent for the curatrix of the museum,
Marjorie Courtney-Latimer. She realised that this was an unusual find, and sent a letter,
together with a sketch of the fish, to Professor JLB Smith, who was holidaying at his
home in Knysna. The letter only reached him on the 3rd of January, 1939, and, due to
rains and other delays, it would be six weeks before Smith could finally get to East
London to examine the fish. In the meantime, and despite Courtney-Latimer’s best
efforts, the soft (inner) parts of the fish had rotted and had to be discarded.
Before he even saw the fish, Smith was convinced that it must belong to a group
known as the crossopterygians - primitive fishes that were thought to have become
extinct more that 70 million years ago. This is remarkable – the crossopterygians were
known from the fossil record as 30 centimetre-long fishes from the shallow fresh waters
of the northern hemisphere, but this latest find was a massive 150 centimetres in length,
and was found in the depths of the southern ocean. When he was finally able to
examine it and announce to the world that it was, in fact, a Coelacanth, the scientific
community was stunned. He named his find Latimeria chalumnae after Margaret
Courtney-Latimer and the Chalumna River.
That Vital Second Specimen
Smith became obsessed with finding a second specimen. The loss of the soft inner parts
meant that he was unable to make a complete zoological description, and he wanted to
know where these strange fish lived. He theorised that the East London fish was a stray,
and that they probably occurred in the warmer waters to the north. In his search he
traveled widely along Africa’s Eastern Coast, and in 1948 he distributed a leaflet
offering a reward of £100 for the capture of a coelacanth. Some of these leaflets were
eventually taken to the Comores by a Captain Eric Hunt. On the 20th of December,
1952, a second specimen was caught by a hand line fisherman named Ahmed Houssein,
about 200 metres off the island of Anjouan in the Comores. It was brought to Hunt, who
knew from earlier discussions with the Smiths that preservation of the fish was of
paramount importance. Hunt did what he could for the fish, and sent a telegram to
*
The French scientist Louis Agassiz was the first to describe the coelacanth - the fossil Coelacanthus (the
description was published in his book Poissons Fossiles - The Fossil Fish). He chose the name because of the
characteristic, hollow spines that project from the vertebrae: the word means ‘hollow space’ - from the Greek
coel - space, and acanthus – spine.

Smith‘s faculty at the University of Grahamstown. But Smith was away - he was, in
fact, sailing home aboard the Dunnottar Castle after completing his latest fish-
collecting safari. It was only when he landed in Durban on December 24th that the news
finally reached him.
Communications were slow in those days, and there were no scheduled flights
between South Africa and the Comores, nor were any charter airplanes available. On
Christmas Day, therefore, desperate not to lose the opportunity, Smith phoned the
Prime Minister of South Africa - DF Malan - and convinced him to put a military
Dakota at his disposal to fly to the Comores, collect the fish, and bring it to South
Africa where he could work on it.
Smith finally landed in the Comores on December the 28th.
On first inspection, this second specimen appeared to be different to the first,
and it was given a different zoological name: Malania anjounae. It did not have two
dorsal fins, like Latimeria did. On closer investigation, however, it was found that the
front fin had been lost (possibly due to injury when the specimen was quite young) and,
in the end, this, second fish was placed in the same species as Latimeria.
During the flight back to Cape Town to show the fish to the Prime Minister,
Smith convinced the pilot to fly low over Knysna where they ‘dropped a bomb’ on the
Smith‘s house. The ‘bomb’ contained a letter to Bob, his son from his first marriage, in
which Smith described his experiences of the past few days. Once Malan had seen the
fish, Smith returned to Grahamstown where he spent months working on his complete
description of the Coelacanth.
In her book A Fish Caught in Time1
, Samantha Weinberg tells of an amusing
incident that happened prior to the flight of the Dakota: the South African Airforce
needed permission from the Mozambican authorities to mount a military flight across
their air space and to refuel in Lourenço Marques. At 2 a.m. on the day of the flight, one
of the officers in Durban called a government official in Lourenço Marques to make the
request. Weinberg relates:
‘“Roger,” said the Lourenço Marques man. “And what is the mission of this
flight?”
‘Durban “To get a fish.”
‘L.M.: “Have I heard you right? A F.I.S.H.?
‘Durban “Yes, a fish.”
‘L.M.: “You mean a thing with scales?”
‘Durban “Roger.”
‘L.M.: “Do you really think our Government is going to believe that? You must
think our guys are stupid – can’t you think of a better story for why you want to cross
our territory in a military plane?”’
150 Coelacanths were caught of the Comoros during the following 15 years, but
only French scientists were allowed to search for them. This restriction was lifted after
the country gained its independence, and, in 1986 and again 1987, Professor Hans
Fricke of Germany’s Max Planck Institute - using a self-built submersible - mounted
diving expeditions to film the Coelacanth in its natural habitat. Success came on the 41st
dive of the second expedition, and it is one of the many ironies of the Coelacanth story
that Ficke had already left for Germany when his colleague, Jürgen Schauer, took the
vessel down without him and finally caught the fish on film*
.
*
Such expeditions showed that coelacanths feed at night but prefer to hide in caves during the day

Coelacanths Around the World
Coelacanths have since been discovered in Mozambique, Madagascar, Indonesia, and,
in November 2000, in South Africa and, like the Comoran fish, all have a story to tell.
Although the first Mozambican coelacanth was caught in 1972, it was the
second catch, in 1991, that was of major importance to our knowledge of the fish’s
natural history.
Important coelacanths have an uncanny habit of turning up around Christmas
time. The 1.79-metre, 98 kg fish had been caught by a Japanese fishing trawler and
frozen on board before being handed over to Dr Augusto Cabral of the Museum of
Natural History in Lourenço Marques. On Christmas Eve, the JLB Smith Institute of
Ichthyology received a fax telling of the Coelacanth’s capture and the director, Prof.
Bruton, quickly arranged to visit the museum in the company of Prof. Fricke.
Weinberg relates that ‘Cabral assured them that it was definitely a coelacanth –
only the second to have been trawled and, indeed, to have been found anywhere but the
Comores. The bad news was that – in another uncanny mirror to the events of 1938 –
lacking the facilities to keep it frozen, Dr Cabral had been forced to dissect the fish and
discard its internal organs. The good news, however, was that he had found twenty-six
perfectly preserved coelacanth pups inside, which he had managed to preserve.
‘The Mozambique fish threw a slew of series and assumptions into the air. Not
only did the place and method of its capture revive former conjectures that the
coelacanth inhabited a much wider area – and that the East London specimen was not
necessarily a stray – but it also threw oil into the simmering debate about the
coelacanth’s reproductive processes.
‘Until that point, all coelacanth estimates of coelacanth population dynamics
had been based on the American Museum’s specimen*
, with its five embryos . Then
along came the Mozambican fish, quintupling the potential birth rate; if coelacanths
could produce up to twenty six young, then perhaps they weren’t as endangered as we
thought? It also destroyed, once and for all, Eugene Balon’s theory of inter-uterine
cannibalism†
.
‘To the sceptics and pessimists of the coelacanth world, the Mozambique
specimen wasn’t such a big deal. Any live bearer – even one that produces twenty-six
offspring – is a slow producer, and it was entirely possible, they argued, that, like the
East London Fish, this coelacanth had also got caught in the southerly current and
drifted from the Comoros to the waters off Pebane where it was caught.’
But the sceptics were wrong. In August 1993, a 32 kg specimen was caught in a
shark net off the village of Anakaó on the south-west coast of Madagascar – 1 300 km
south of Grand Comore, and another one was caught in the same place, and under
similar circumstances, in 1997. The co-incidence was too great, and the fact that
coelacanth’s occurred over a greater geographical area than was originally believed,
was now becoming commonly accepted.
*
Caught in 1962 in the Comores and known as Specimen Twenty Six
†
Specimen Twenty-Six was dissected in 1975, and was found to contain five pups that were still attached
to their yolk-sacs. However, as coelacanths were known to produce up to 200 eggs, Balon, of Guelph
University in Canada, proposed the theory that they displayed the same habit of oophagy (inter-uterine
cannibalism) as do the sharks. If this was the case, it would have seriously limited the coelacanth’s
reproductive capacity.

On the 18th
of September of that year – 1997 – Mark Erdmann, an American
marine biologist based in Indonesia, saw a coelacanth on the cart of an old fisherman at
the fish market in Bali. The old man was unable to give him accurate details as to where
it had been caught, and, because he was obviously uncomfortable with all the attention
that he and his find were attracting, Erdmann reluctantly stopped his line of
questioning.
To his subsequent regret, Erdmann did not buy the specimen from the old man,
and, like Smith before him, eventually put out a reward for the capture of a second
specimen, which was caught off the island of Manado Tua by one Om Lameh, and
brought – still alive – to Erdmann. Before it died, Erdmann placed it in the waters of the
bay in front of his house and filmed it as it swam. Although the decision to kill and
dissect the fish could not have been an easy one, Erdmann was comforted by the
knowledge that live coelacanths never survive the ascent from the great depths at which
they live for more than a few hours*
.
And Finally – A South African Coelacanth Colony
On 27 November 2000, a group of divers discovered and photographed coelacanths off
Sodwana Bay, in South Africa’s Greater St Lucia Wetland Park (northern KwaZulu-
Natal) whilst diving to a depth of 104 metres: the specimens in the photographs were
positively identified by Dr Phil Heemstra of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology.
The discovery finally confirmed that the coelacanth was as South African a fish
as any other on this coast. Importantly for its continued survival, however, the colony
lives in a protected area – the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park was declared a World
Heritage Site in December 1999. The country’s Minister of Environment Affairs and
Tourism, Mr. Valli Moosa, quickly reacted to the find by publishing emergency
regulations to further protect the coelacanth: in South Africa, coelacanths may now not
be disturbed or caught, and no attempt may be made to locate and/ or film them without
a permit issued by the Minister.
Conserving The Coelacanth
The nickname for the Coelacanth - Old Four Legs - refers to its four unique limb-like
fins (2 in the pectoral and 2 in the pelvic regions). These fins are not attached to the
body in the way that we are used to seeing in fish, but are placed on well-developed
basal lobes, which are muscular protrusions that are similar to limbs in mammals.
These basal lobes can bend and rotate, allowing the Coelacanth to ‘paddle’ with its fins
- in much the same way that we might paddle with oars!
The Coelacanth feeds mainly on fish, eels, skates, shark, squid and octopus.
There is no obvious difference in appearance between the male and female,
except perhaps that the female is slightly more robust. The foetuses develop inside the
mother and remain there until they are large enough to fend for themselves. One female
that was caught contained 26 babies that were about to be born. They were between 308
and 358 mm long, and weighed between 410 and 502g.
Coelacanths live at depths of between 100 and 700 metres. Their habit of hiding
in caves during the day may be a defense against their main predators - sharks. They are
*
This is the greatest limitation to holding a coelacanth in an aquarium. Even if it were possible,
conservationists are reluctant to see this happen as the number of aquaria acquiring live specimens could
pose a threat to the species’ survival.

sociable, and will congregate together in their caves, possibly returning to the same
‘home’ cave day after day. They show no evidence of any aggressive behaviour.
In 1987 Professor Mike Bruton*
and three other Ichthyologists founded the
Coelacanth Conservation Council, whose headquarters are in the Comoran capital of
Moroni. Trade in the Coelacanth has been banned - it is now listed in Appendix 1 of the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The Garden Route’s Coelacanth
The JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology has developed a unique angling museum at the
Old Gaol complex in Knysna. A part of the museum is devoted to the Coelacanth,
where you can see a preserved specimen and learn more about the history and natural
history of this fascinating fish - a link between our modern world and the age of
Dinosaurs.
*
Then Professor of Ichthyology at the JLB Smith Institute in Grahamstown

A Brief History of Knysna
Very little is known about the people who inhabited the Knysna area before about 1760,
when the first Europeans came here. The deep gorges and high mountains of
Outeniqualand - as the Garden Route was then known - proved impassable for the
earliest European explorers and it would seem that there were no permanent settlements
in Knysna before 1770, although the district was home to wandering bands or families
of Khoi (Hottentot) or San (Bushman) people (according to the CSIR’s Grindley
Report2
, the only archeological site in Knysna that has been recognised by the South
African Museum is at Featherbed Nature Reserve – the caves which we know today as
The Nostrils, and which are visited on the Featherbed tour).
The Name Knysna
The Nysna River is mentioned in an early letter to the Governor at the Cape, Lord
Charles Somerset. The letter was written by James Callander, who drew the first map of
the Knysna Lagoon and was probably the first European to settle at the Knysna Heads.
The modern spelling Knysna seems to have been adopted some time in the late
1700’s or early 1800’s and, although early references all mention The Knysna - a
shortening of The Knysna River, the town only became known as Knysna (no ‘the’)
after the first Municipal Council meeting (1883).
The origin of the name is not known. It might have come from the Khoi xthys
xna, meaning the `place of timber,’ but it’s worth noting that similar place names -
which are generally associated with water - exist in other parts of Africa. A good
example would be the old name for Lake Malawi: it used to be known as Lake Nyasa.
Interestingly, Webster’s Universal Dictionary defines the word nyanza as a noun:
“(African): An expanse of water, as a lake or wide river.”3
Early Colonial Settlement
In 1770, the Colonial Government proclaimed the farm Melkhoutkraal on the eastern
shore of the lagoon - between the Eastern Head and the present-day Industrial Area. Its
first occupant was Stephanus Terblans, who was granted a loan permit for a period of
one year but who eventually lived here for twenty; his widow ran the farm after his
death and sold it in 1798. Similar farms existed at Belvidere and Brenton, but the north
shore of the lagoon, where the town stands today, was uninhabited.
The population of the district grew very slowly in the late 1700’s. In 1802, the
area was invaded by Khoikhoi warriors during the Third Frontier War (1799 - 1802).
Some of the settlers were evacuated to Mossel Bay, and most of the farms between
Plettenberg Bay and the Keurbooms River, as well as some at the Knysna, including
Melkhoutkraal, were burned to the ground.
In 1804, George Rex bought Melkhoutkraal and came to live here. He saw great
potential in the enormous forests of the area, and immediately began lobbying the
Colonial Government to establish a harbour at the Knysna for the export of timber.
Although harbour facilities would only be built much later, the river was declared a port
in 1817. The first ship to try and cross the bar was the Emu: she floundered on a
submerged rock at the mouth - now Emu Rock - and was wrecked on the sandbank in
front of Leisure Island (then known as Steenbok Island). Two months later, HMS
Podargus arrived to salvage the Emu and became the first ship recorded as safely
entering the Knysna river mouth.

John Gough was appointed first permanent pilot at The Heads in the following
year (1819), and was responsible for the safety of craft crossing the bar: his job was to
row out to ships at sea to guide them in to the lagoon.
King or Commoner?
George Rex has grown into something of a legend in Knysna because of the confusion
surrounding his circumstances. Legend has it that he was the son of Britains King
George III and the Quaker and commoner Hanna Lightfoot, and that he was sent to the
Cape to ‘hide him away’ from the Royal court in England. But if this King and
commoner were married, the union was done away with in favour of the King’s
permanent alliance to Princess Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz. George Rex never
confirmed or denied the story of his royal birth, but some people believe the story partly
because of his obvious political power, and partly because of his association with Dr
James Barry. Barry was a woman who masqueraded as a man in order to be able to
study and practice as a doctor - a profession denied to women in England in the 1700’s.
She was the daughter of the Duke of York and niece of George III, and, if the legend
about George Rex is true, would have been Rex’s cousin. We do know that Barry spent
much of her (his?) time at the Cape in the company of George Rex.
Whether the stories about his background are true or not, George Rex definitely
did live and farm at Melkhoutkraal until his death 1839, by which time he owned
almost all of the land surrounding the lagoon. He has been credited with being the
“proprietor and founder of Knysna;”*
he donated land for the construction of a church;
he initiated a project to lay out the first village on the shores of the Lagoon (it was
called Melville and stood in the area west of the present Long Street), and he was
instrumental in establishing the local timber industry.
The Port of Knysna
The Knysna River had a chequered career as a port - partly because of the dangers of
The Heads, and partly because of the varying economic fortunes of the Cape Colony.
We have already seen that the Knysna was first declared a port in 1817; that the
first ship that attempted to enter the mouth (the Emu) was wrecked; and that a
permanent pilot was appointed in 1818. In 1820, the British Navy established a
dockyard on the banks of the lagoon to make use of the seemingly inexhaustible timber
resources that were available locally. But the dockyard buildings were twice burned to
the ground, and it was closed down after only five years.
In 1827 the port was de-proclaimed for economic reasons and the pilot was sent
away. John Rex, son of George, then acted as a voluntary pilot for the next thirty years.
Only in 1858, three days before he died, was he finally, officially, appointed to the post.
Many large ships were wrecked trying to enter or leave The Heads (often
against pilot’s orders, but, unfortunately sometimes because of pilot error), and the
harbour mouth gained the reputation of being one of the most treacherous in the world.
Still, until the completion of the railway line in 1928, shipping was the only
economically viable connection with the outside world.
Loading and unloading ships at the Knysna was no easy task in the first half of
the nineteenth century: goods was either moved onto rafts or smaller boats and rowed to
*
The inscription on Rex’s grave, which stands in Lower Old Place, near the N2, reads: “In Memory of
George Rex, Esq., Proprietor and Founder of Knysna. Died 30 April 1839”

shore, but, for larger items, the ship was hauled onto a sand bank at high tide and the
cargo was put off directly onto the mud when the ship settled onto its side at low tide.
The Colonial Government ignored numerous requests to provide finance for the
construction of a jetty; this forced Thomas ‘Skipper’ Horn, a local businessman, to
build one at his own expense in 1867. This stone jetty - upon which the Knysna Yacht
Club would later be built - served the needs of the shipping community until 1883,
when the Government Jetty on Thesen’s Island was finally constructed.
The first ship that loaded cargo from the Government’s wharf was the Thesen
brig Ambulant - she took on 3000 yellowwood railway sleepers bound for Cape Town.
The Thesen family had made their first visit to Knysna in 1869. They were en
route for New Zealand, when their ship, the Albatross, was damaged off Cape Agulhas.
Returning to Cape Town for repairs, they were offered a charter to bring goods to
Knysna. In 1870, after a number of these charters, they decided to abandon their plans
for New Zealand and came to settle here. They would eventually build a business that
included timber, forestry and saw-milling, a ship yard and a shipping line with a fleet
that flew the once familiar red triangular flag with a white star at its centre.
The Knysna Boatyard saw service during the Second World War when it built
640 craft for the Allied forces – from the large Fairmiles - wooden submarine hunting
boats – to the long-boats that were used as life rafts. After the War, the yard built
fishing vessels and pleasure craft, yachts and houseboats. It was eventually sold off to
independent investors, but was bankrupted and closed during the 1980’s.
The Family Benn
The most famous of the Pilots at The Heads were undoubtedly the Benns: John, John II,
Conning and Reuben. John Benn was a shipwright in Mossel Bay who was brought to
Knysna in 1855 to direct the salvage of the Musquash, which was wrecked at Coney
Glenn. Although the ship broke up in the waves before he could rescue her, Benn
decided to stay when he was offered a commission to build a new ship - the Rover - for
Skipper Horn. He went on to become the first of a dynasty of Pilots that would ‘rule’
the mouth until the closure of the harbour in 1954.
No lives were lost as a result of pilot error in all the time that the Benns worked
the River mouth. It is fitting, then, that Knysna’s only pleasure cruiser - which is so
popular with visitors and locals alike - should be named in honour of the first of these
brave men: the mv John Benn.
A Mysterious Ghost Ship!
In April 1881, John Benn and his crew discovered an abandoned three- masted
schooner at the mouth of the Noetzie River. No valuables or signs of life were found on
board, and the masts and rigging were bleached white from the sun: it was obvious that
the vessel had been adrift without her crew for some time. The ship’s log was missing,
but her cargo log was intact (the last entry showed that she had carried guano in 1876).
Although a scrap of paper dated 1880 was found, no clues were left behind to explain
what had happened to the crew.
This was the Phoenix, previously known as the Villepierre, out of Point Pierre
on the island of Réunion. An old sailors’ superstition holds that renaming a ship brings
bad luck - could this have been the cause of the mysterious disappearance of the crew?
We may never know. The Phoenix was attached by the customs officer, and sold at
auction for £15. Her new owners refitted her, and she went on to sail the seven seas for

many a successful year.
End Of An Era
In the first years of the twentieth century it became clear that the endless forests of the
Southern Cape had been over-exploited, and that they were in dire need of preservation.
The woodcutters’ rights to fell trees were therefore annulled in 1939, and, until 1967,
no harvesting of any kind was allowed. The unthinkable had come to pass: the timber
supply had come to an to an end.
The closure of the forests, the coming of the railway line and the construction of
improved roads that made travel quicker, cheaper and much safer, produced a series of
economic blows that were more than the little port could bear. Knysna’s harbour was
officially closed – for the last time - in 1954.
Millwood’s Gold
In 1876 a farmer named Hooper discovered a gold nugget in the river at Karawater. He
took it to the village chemist, who analysed it, confirmed the find, and passed it on to
the government roads engineer, CF Osborne. Osborne in turn sent it off to the Colonial
Government, and, although he was granted £100 for further exploration, it was not until
1885 that he returned to Karawater to continue prospecting. He discovered a gold-
bearing reef on a tributary of the Karatara River, and recommended that the area be
opened for pegging. Although the Rand was proclaimed a gold field in the same year,
diggers came to Knysna anyway, in the hope that Millwood (as the new town became
known) would become a successful mining area.
Millwood’s first newspaper appeared in 1886: the Millwood Sluice Box was
soon followed by both the Millwood Eaglet and the Millwood Critic. Where only tents
had existed before, proper buildings began to appear - these included four hotels, six
shops, a committee room and an agent’s office. The gold fields had, however, still not
been recognised by the Government, and the diggers and businessmen were officially
thought of as trespassers.
In January 1887 the government finally acceded to the diggers demands, and
Millwood was proclaimed a gold field with Patrick Fletcher as the Inspector of Mines.
That year’s (official) production of gold was 655 ounces.
1888 was the high point in the town’s history: in January it had more than a
thousand permanent residents but by mid-year the gold began to run out and businesses
were feeling the pinch.
The total recorded yield from Millwood was 2360 ounces by May of 1889, but
very little gold was discovered after that. At the end of 1890, CF Osborne wrote that
only one company - manned by only one manager and one digger - was working the
gold fields. He noted that, to service their needs, there were three shops, five officials,
three constables, an inspector and a registrar. Soon, even these people were gone but it
was not until 1924 that the Government finally, officially, abandoned the Millwood
gold fields.
The Town of Knysna
Two villages were laid out on the banks of the Knysna Lagoon in the middle years of
the 19th
century. These twins – Newhaven to the east of the present day Long Street,
and Melville to the west - existed side by side until 1881, when it was decided that they
should merge. The new municipality was created by the colonial government’s

Proclamation No
217 of 1882, and Thomas Horn was elected chairman of the first
official Council, which held its first meeting on 14 March 1883.
Municipal matters moved slowly in the early days: the decision to install a water
system for the town was taken in 1898, but it was not until 1926 that the water actually
flowed! And it was not until 1924 that street lighting was installed (27 electric, and 27
paraffin lanterns).
In May 1927 a public meeting was held to discuss the idea of starting a
‘Publicity Bureau,’ and in October 1929 the Knysna Publicity Association was formed.
It was housed in an old school building (since demolished) in the church grounds. 736
visitors entered the office in its first year of operation (compare this with the 38 300
visitors to the Bureau in the year ended February 2001!). In 1996, the Association
changed its name to the ‘Knysna Tourism Bureau’ to fall in line with the requirements
for accreditation under the new Western Cape Tourism Act (Act 3 of 1997), and, with
the formation of a private-public sector partnership Section 21 company (a company not
for gain), it became known simply as ‘Knysna Tourism,’ and, more recently, as Knysna
& Partners (which name was adopted in recognition of the fact that tourism is only one
aspect of the local economy)
Apartheid and Forced Removals
The make-up of Knysna’s council reflected the political climate of the country
throughout most of the twentieth century.
Union-wide elections in 1948 saw the coming to power of the Nationalist Party.
Their racially-based policies profoundly affected all the peoples of Southern Africa -
both within and beyond our borders. Knysna was not excluded from their experiments
in social engineering.
In 1956, the Group Areas Act was created to divide the country into areas where
the different race groups would allowed to live. This act was frequently invoked in
removing entire communities from their established homes to new, often remote areas
that were considered ‘appropriate’ for them. These forced removals continued well into
the 1980’s.
In Knysna, it was decided that coloured people should be moved to the area that
is now known as Hornlee, on the east side of town. The decision was not popular with
the community. Besides being faced with the horror of forced removal from their homes
in places such as Salt River and Old Place, the people were reluctant to accept Hornlee
as their new home. Amongst other things, the high water table in Hornlee was expected
to create engineering problems that would increase building costs.
The people of Salt River were mostly poverty-stricken and often uneducated or,
at best, poorly educated. None of them owned their homes, and eviction orders were
easily obtained. Resistance here was sporadic, isolated and mostly passive. Although a
group called the Waaksames (the Vigilant Society) was formed to fight the decision to
move to Hornlee and the Government was petitioned to make land at Eastford available
to the community, their efforts were unsuccessful and the first houses were built in
Hornlee in 1970. Most of Knysna’s coloured people were moved there by 1973.
Few black people were recognised in the Western Cape under the Grand
Apartheid Plan, and consequently no official black residential areas were proclaimed in
Knysna. It was only in 1987 that Kayalethu - with only 150 houses - was established.
Nor did Knysna escape the effects of the struggle for democracy. In one of the
more visible events of the 1976 student uprising, the Percy Mdala School buildings,

which were housed in the Full Gospel Church complex, were burned down, although
the church itself was spared (the school was at that time known as Thembelitsha
Primary).
On April 27, 1994, South Africa began her first ever democratic elections in
what the world’s press hailed as a miraculous moment in our history. Nelson Mandela
was installed as the country’s first democratically elected president, and a Government
of National Unity was formed.
Knysna’s first democratic council elections were held on November 1, 1995,
and a 68 percentage poll was recorded. The first democratically elected mayor was
Councilor Thembe Mfene, and he was joined by councilors Kock, Avontuur, Siyona,
Stander, Campher, Dixon, Thesen, Peyi, Pienaar, du Plessis, Holmes and Best. They
took office on the day of their election, and operated in terms of the Municipal
Ordinance (20 of 1974), as well as the Transitional Local Government Act.
The effects - and damage - of the policies of Apartheid are still visible in
Knysna and, although members of the community have embraced the new democracy
with gusto, it is expected that reconstruction will take many years.

The Vegetation at Featherbed
Norman Myers, Visiting Fellow of the Green College, Oxford (in England) wrote in his
foreword to the book Fynbos - South Africa’s Unique Floral Kingdom4
that “the Cape
Fynbos is a wonder of the world. It makes up four-fifths of the Cape Floral Kingdom,
which covers an area of less than 90 000 square kilometres - comparable with Malawi
or Portugal - and hosts 8 600 plant species, 5 800 of which are endemic. To put this in
perspective, the British Isles - three and a half times larger, have only 1 500 plants,
fewer than 20 of which are endemic. The whole of tropical Africa harbours 30 000 plant
species in almost 20 million square kilometres - or only 3.5 times as many species in an
area 235 times as large. Still more remarkable is the Cape Peninsula with its 2 285 plant
species in an expanse smaller than that of London. Table Mountain alone has more than
1500 species in 57 square kilometres. So super-special is the Cape Floral Kingdom that
it has been designated one of the earth’s six plant kingdoms, putting it on a par with the
Boreal Kingdom, which covers 50 million square kilometres.
“Yet this extravagance of life’s diversity is little known outside South
Africa...”
Although the beauty of the Cape Flora is one of our greatest assets, it is still a
largely untapped resource. It has been said that, around the world, the flowers of the
Cape earn more for other countries than gold has ever earned for South Africa. This is a
quirk of history: the beauty and value of many of our endemic plants (such as
geraniums, nerines, gladiolus and even proteas) was recognised by early horticulturists
and botanists. The plants were sent back to Europe (largely to Holland, France and
Britain), where they became - and still are - a mainstay of the enormous international
horticultural industry. They are extensively cultivated for cut flowers, and for the
gardening, cosmetics and other industries.
Featherbed Nature Reserve prides itself on being an important part of the drive
to conserve our country’s fynbos – both through its physical presence, which protects
an exquisitely beautiful part of our coastline, and through the educational value of our
tours, during which guests learn of the importance of this vegetation type.
The World’s Six Floral Kingdoms
The world’s terrestrial plants are divided into six broad regions or floral kingdoms.
Many factors - such as climate and geology – make each kingdom unique, and have had
a marked influence on the development of their flora.
The Boreal Kingdom includes most of the northern hemisphere - North
America, Eurasia, Greenland, and the northernmost parts of Africa – and covers about
42% of the Earth’s land surface: [2] the Palaeotropical Kingdom includes India,
Southern China, Indonesia, the South Sea Islands and almost all of sub-Saharan Africa,
and covers about 35% of the Earth’s land surface: [3] the Neotropical Kingdom,
includes Central America and most of South America and covers about 14% of the
Earth’s land surface: [4] the Australian Kingdom includes all of Australia and Tasmania
and covers about 8% of the Earth’s land surface: [5] the Patagonian Kingdom includes
Antarctica, New Zealand, Chile and Patagonia and covers about 1% of the Earth’s land
surface; and, finally, [6] the Cape Floral Kingdom (or the South African Kingdom or the
Fynbos Biome) includes a clearly defined geographical region within the southern part
of South Africa and covers only about 0.4% of the Earth’s land surface.

The Cape Floral Kingdom
The Cape Floral Kingdom is confined to an area of about 90 000 km2
around the
Southern tip of Africa. It stretches along the Cape Coast from Vanrhynsdorp in the
west, round the Cape Peninsula and eastwards to Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. The
inland boundaries are the Cape Fold Mountains: the Witteberg, Swartberg and
Baviaansberg along the Indian Ocean Seaboard, and the Hex River Mountains,
Cederberg and Koue Bokkeveld on the Atlantic Seaboard. This is not only the world’s
smallest floral kingdom - it is also the only floral kingdom that is entirely contained
within the borders of one country.
Like the other plant kingdoms, the Cape Floral Kingdom is made up of a
collection of biomes or plant communities. The plants in each biome are closely linked
to its soil type and climate. In the Cape Floral Kingdom, these communities include the
fynbos, the strandveld (or fynbos/ thicket mosaic) and the renosterveld. Patches of
Afromontane Forest and Succulent Karoo also fall within the Kingdom’s geographical
area.
Of the 8 600 plant species found in the Cape Floral Kingdom, 68% are endemic5
- they grow here and nowhere else.
The climate is predominantly Mediterranean, and most of the Cape receives
most of its rain during Winter - except for the small portion between George and
Tsitsikamma, which receives rain throughout the year. The rainfall pattern within the
region (like that of the soils) is a determining factor in the character of the plant
communities.
The sandy soils which predominate in the area are derived largely from the
Table Mountain sandstones that are its main geological formations. These soils are
generally poor in nutrients, offer poor grazing and have limited value to traditional,
western agriculture.
The soils in the valleys are typically less sandy, with a higher clay content.
Confined patches of shale, granite and limestone also have an influence on localised
soils within the region.
The Fynbos Biome
The general appearance of the fynbos is of a shrubby, fine-leaved plant community. The
word fynbos*
refers to a broad collection of different plants - a vegetation type or plant
community - and not to any one species or family. Fynbos makes up about 80% of the
species in the Cape Floral Kingdom, and great varieties may grow within very small
areas (up to 121 species within just 100 square metres).
Four types of plants characteristic the fynbos: [1] the proteoids, which are
generally between 1 and 3 metres in height and have large, leathery leaves; they include
all members of the Protea family, such as Protea (suikerbos), Leucadendron (geelbos)
and Leucospermum (pincushion): [2] the ericoids - about 3 000 species of heath-like
plants, including the Ericaceae (the heaths), and Agathosma (buchu): [3] the restioids –
the Cape reeds or members of the grass-like Restionaceae family: [4] the geophytes, or
*
The term Fynbos probably came from the Dutch “fijnbosch”, and has been used for centuries to
describe the vegetation of the Cape. It could have one of two derivations: [a] it may originally have
referred to the predominance of fine-leaved (fijn) shrubs in the area, or [b] it may originally have referred
to the small, thin-stemmed trees of the few forests that were found on Table Mountain when the Dutch
first colonised the Cape. The thin-stemmed trees of those forests - “fijnbosch” - were too slender to be
suitable for harvesting as timber.

bulbous plants, including the Gladiolus (afrikaners or aandblomme) and the ground
orchids Disa (moederkappies); the fynbos has the world’s largest concentration of
indigenous geophytes - about 1400 species (many of which disappear during summer
when their leaves die back after flowering).
Three major physical factors define the areas in which fynbos grows: [1] where
summer is generally dryer and windier than winter and where annual rainfall exceeds
600 mm: [2] where the soils are poor in nutrients*
, and [3] where fire is a regular
occurrence. Fires, like the large mammals of the veld or destructive hurricanes of the
tropics, are the ‘cleaners’ that ensure that the natural cycle of growth, degeneration and
decay can continue in the fynbos. Without the influence of man, fynbos usually burns
once every 5 to 40 years, with an average of 12 to 14 years between fires (‘natural’ fires
are usually started by lightening or rock falls). The evolution of many of the species of
the fynbos has been a response to the regular fires that sweep through the area. The
proteas, for instance, will only release their seeds once their cones have been subjected
to fire.
The Fynbos can further be divided into three main types: Fynbos, Mountain
Fynbos and Coastal Fynbos. Fynbos and Mountain Fynbos are found from the foothills
at sea-level to the peaks at 2 250 metres. It grows on grey, sandy soils that are sour and
leached of nutrients by the predominantly high rainfall (in places as much as 3 300 mm
per year). Featherbed’s plants fall within the Coastal Fynbos, which is characteristically
found below about 150 metres above sea-level where the soil is a deep, greyish sand
that is slightly alkaline to sour.
Some Fynbos Species at Featherbed
FAMILY: ASPHODELACEAE
Aloe ferox
Bitter Aloe; Bitteraalwyn
Often single-stemmed, with thick, succulent, heavily-spined leaves; red or
orange flowers appear between May and August. The yellowish sap of the leaves is
used commercially in the preparation of bitter aloe products. Look out for the them
alongside the road on the lower half of the Reserve.
Aloe arborescens
Kransaalwyn
A large, many-branched aloe, that is common on cliffs and dunes near the sea.
Orange to red flowers from April to July. At Featherbed you’ll find them in the forest,
along the rocky coastline and aside the Old Rocket Path
Gasteria brachyphylla
Kanniedood
*
This may have been the saving of the fynbos - because agriculturists could not use the poor quality soil.
Technology has only recently made fertilisation - and thus the use - of these areas viable for agriculture.
Fortunately, the ground at Featherbed has never been used for farming, and the soils on the Reserve
remain largely undisturbed.

Look for the Kanniedood near the caves, particularly when their hanging,
pitcher-shaped flowers appear between September and November. The wide, succulent
leaves vary in colour from pink to green and each has a single spine at its rounded tip.
HYACINTHACEAE
Albuca cooperi
Soldier-In-The-Box; Slymstok
Found near the caves. The Slymstok’s flowers appear between September and
January; they are small, yellow and sweetly scented, and each is surrounded by six
green and white tepals.
Ornithogalum dubium
Chinkerinchee; Tjienkerintjee
A small bulb with 3 to 4 shiny leaves and a single stem bearing up to 15 white
flowers during October and November. Located along the path at Coffin Bay.
AMARYLLIDACEAE
Scadoxus puniceus
Paintbrush; Skeerkwas, Koning-van-Kandië
This bulb grows in moist, shady places - at Featherbed, you’ll find them at the
caves. It has three or four soft, glossy leaves, and each plant bears a single, 400 mm-
long flower stem topped by a brush of small, coral-coloured flowers with long, bright
yellow stamens. Appears in January and February.
Brunsvigia orientalis
Candelabra Flower; Kandelaarblom
You can’t miss this large and spectacular bulb when it blooms between February
and April. The flowers appear before the leaves on sturdy stalks that grow straight out
of the ground. Each stalk carries a 400 mm-wide ball or candelabra of up to fifty
crimson-coloured flowers which fade to a papery khaki colour. When it dries, the whole
ball breaks away from the bulb and is blown around to scatter its seeds. For or five
leaves appear after the flowers have died, lying flat on the ground. At Featherbed it
grow near the caves; it is also a common sight along the N2 near Sedgefield and on
Knysna’s Leisure Island.
IRIDACEAE
Dietes iridiodes
Wild Iris; Klein Wittulp
The wild iris is usually associated with drier areas, and at Featherbed is most
commonly seen near the viewing platform. The plant has strap-like leaves and long,
elegant stems that carry attractive white flowers. Although each bloom lasts just one
day, the wild iris is prolific and each flower is quickly replaced by new buds. Flowers
August to March.

Tritoniopsis caffra
Flames; Rooipypie
Leaves are narrow and ribbed and fifteen or more attractive, vividly scarlet
flowers are borne on opposite sides of each flowering stem. They are associated with
grassy slopes, forest margins and are common along the coast. At Featherbed, they are
located at Coffin Bay and alongside the steps to the caves.
Gladiolus cunonius
Lepeltjie
The narrow scarlet flowers are arranged in a one-sided manner on the stem, with
1 - 3 narrow leaves which are as long as the flower stem. Flowers September to
October. Located along Coffin Bay and steps going down to the caves.
Watsonia laccata
This delightful small species has flowers that have delicate shades of pink.
Flowers September to October. Found along the coastline, near Coffin Bay.
Watsonia wilmaniae
A tall and rather untidy plant. The leaves are linear and the flowering stem may
reach a height of 2m with flowers sparsely placed at the top which are red with dark
purple stamens. Flowers November to January. Found along coastline, near Coffin Bay.
ORCHIDACEAE
Bonatea speciosa
Green Wood-Orchid; Oktoberlelie
This ground orchid reaches a height of 900 mm. The flowers are highly fragrant
and look like a complicated mass of green and white ribbons protruding from a green
bonnet - up to 36 of them are borne on each stem. It prefers semi-shade in coastal bush
and on forest margins. At Featherbed it most commonly seen along the Old Rocket Path
and near the caves.
Holothrix villosa
Dwarf Orchid
This tiny orchid only grows to between 60 and 100 mm in height. The slender
flowering stem appears from between two oval to pointed leaves that grow flat against
the ground. Flowers are minute and greenish-yellow. Found along the Old Rocket Path
under the Cape Coast Cabbage Tree.
PROTEACEAE
Leucospermum cuneiforme
Pincushion
A shrub about 1.5m in height and in width. The flowers vary in colour, around
Knysna it may be yellow, red or orange. Flowers September to November. Found near
Featherbed Lodge.

Protea neriifolia
Black Bearded Protea
This shrub can reach 3m in height. The flower-heads range from cream through varying
shades of pink to dark rosy red, tipped with black or dark purple beards. Flowers mainly
from May to August. Found in the Smith’s gardens.
Leucadendron salignum
Sunshine Protea; Geelbos
These shrubs, up to 2m in height, cover large areas of mountain slopes and flats.
Male and female flower heads are different, the female being more showy than the
male. The common colour is a glowing sulphur yellow the leaves are sometimes edged
with red. Flowers July to September. Found near the viewing platform and ‘Featherbed
Window’.
MESEMBRYANTHEMACEAE
Ruschia intricata
Doringvygie
A small spiky shrublet with woody stems, small grey-green leaves & brilliant,
glistening purple flowers with yellow centres.
Carpobrotus deliciosus
Sour Fig; Gaukum
A trailing succulent with long thick branches which root at the nodes. Useful for
holding the sand on the dunes. Leaves are triangular, flowers are large satiny-purple
with yellow centres. The ripe fruit is sweet and full of juice and may quench thirst of
many a hiker. Flowers August to October. Found along the entire trail, especially along
the coast.
CARYOPHYLLACEAE
Silene bellidioides
Large white round flowers with deeply divided petals. Common in the coastal
forests and on the dunes. Flowers October to December. Located along the coastline of
Coffin Bay.
RANUNCULACEAE
Knowltonia vesicatoria subsp. grossa
Blistering Leaves; Brandblare
A handsome plant found in shady bush and coastal scrub. The coarse textured
leaves are shiny and tooth-edged, with umbels of creamy-green flowers & small black
fruits.
PAPAVERACEAE
Heliophila linearis var. linearis

A slender herb about 350 mm tall with slightly succulent leaves which are dull
green, often tinged with purple. The flowers are pale or dark purple or clear blue.
Flowers October to December. Found along the forest edge at the start of the walk and
near the caves.
CRASSULACEAE
Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata (flat leaves)
Pig’s Ear; Plakkies, Varkoor
The large round fleshy leaves are grey-green with a whitish bloom and outlined
with red. The stem of the flower rises 450 mm tall with a loose umbel of hanging,
tubular flowers varying in colour from yellowish-orange to coral or deep red.
Commonly seen along the coast on rocky cliffs, sand dunes and roadways. Flowers
November to July. Found along the coastline from Coffin Bay to Featherbed Bay.
Cotyledon orbiculata var. orbiculata (cylindrical leaves)
Bergbessie
Similar to the above plant, the leaves are greenish-grey with a silvery bloom and
dark brownish-red tips. The flowers are salmon-red on stiff maroon stalks. Prefers drier
areas and is quite common on rocky mountain sides.
Crassula expansa subsp. filicaulis
A small creeping plant approximately 40 mm high. The tiny succulent leaves are
pointed at the tips and become a deep glowing red - forming patches of colour on the
coastal dunes and rocks. Flowers are small and white, in November. Found along the
top of Needles Point and near the caves.
Crassula orbicularis
Klipblom
The colouring of the rosettes of leaves makes this an attractive species, varying
in shades of green, orange, red and brown with creamy flowers on the end of the flower
stem, 200 mm high. Flowers October to December. Found along the coastline of
Featherbed Bay.
FABIACEAE (= LEGUMINOSAE)
Dipogon lignosus
Wild Sweet Pea; Wilde-Ertjie
A robust, showy creeper covering small trees and scrubs, scrambling over
banks. Purplish-pink flowers are dense in clusters at the top of the stems. Flowers July
to January. Found at the start of Bushbuck trail.
GERANIACEAE
Geranium incanum
Carpet Geranium; Ou-Meid-Op-Die-Werf
Well named as this very attractive herb carpets the verges of the roads and
grassland at the coast. The flowers very in colour from pale pink to deep purple.

Flowers September to January. Located near and under the pincushion protea at the start
of the drive.
Pelargonium capitatum
Rose-Scented Pelargonium
This plant has upright or straggling branches with velvety leaves which are
crinkly, tooth-edged and lobed. The plant is sweetly aromatic when crushed. The round,
deep pink flowers have red stripes. Flowers in spring and summer. Found along the
vehicle drive and walk.
RUTACEAE
Agathosma capensis
Buchu: Boegoe
A compact shrublet with woody lower stems and softer upper stems clothed
with tiny very aromatic leaves. Small 5-petalled flowers vary from white to pink and
mauve. Common on sunny slopes and in coastal scrub. Flowers August to April.
Located near the viewing platform and at the caves.
POLYGALACEAE
Polygala myrtifolia
September Bush; Septemberbossie
A showy shrub which flowers intermittently throughout the year with large
purple-pink flowers covering the shrub like a host of butterflies. Found near the
‘Featherbed Window’ and on the way to the Natures Arch and the caves.
EUPHORBIACEAE
Euphorbia mauriticana
Yellow Milkbush; Geelmelkbos
A succulent shrub branched with smooth glaucous stems (similar to a creeper).
Small greenish-yellow flowers. Found along the last stretch of the walk along
Featherbed Bay.
RHAMNACEAE
Phylica imberbis
Fairly common on open slopes, this shrublet reaches up to 750 mm. The slender
leaves curve away from the branches with small, creamy-white, cone-shaped flowers.
Flowers most of the year, all over Featherbed.
THYMELAECEAE
Passerina obtusifolia
Gonna
An erect shrub up to 2,5m tall with clusters of tiny dark red flowers.

Passerina regida
Dune String
A slender shrub up to 2m with triangular scale-like leaves. The bark is used as
string. Flowers with small yellow flowers.
PLUMBAGINACEAE
Limonium scabrum
Sea Lavender; Brakblommetjie
The flowering stems of this plant are intricately branched and bear numerous
pale mauve, papery flowers. The leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant. Flowers
July to January. Found along Coffin Bay and on rocks within reach of sea spray.
APOCYNACEAE
Carissa bispinosa var. bispinosa
Numnum; Noem Noem
A shrub up to 3m high, viciously armed with sharp, forked spines. The bright
red fruit is edible. Delicate white flowers with a sweet aroma. Flowers August to
September.
GENTIANACEAE
Chironia baccifera
Christmas Berry; Agdaegeneesbos
A densely branched shrublet up to 450 mm tall and wide. Flowers September to
March and is covered with brilliant pink flowers followed by bright red berries. Found
near the viewing platform and along Coffin Bay.
BORAGINACEAE
Anchusa capensis
Forget-Me-Not; Vergeet-My-Nietjie
The colour combination of stem and flower makes this a striking plant. Stems
are dark-purple below the heads of brilliant royal blue flowers from October to
December.
LAMIACEAE
Salvia africana-lutea
Dune Salvia, Wild Sage; Geelblomsalie
The unusual colouring of this coastal shrub makes it attractive. The soft silvery-
grey leaves are aromatic and may be used as a substitute for sage. The flowers are
yellowish-brown or rich tan. Found growing along the vehicle pathway, near the
viewing platform and along the coastline. Flowers May to January.
SOLANACEAE
Solanum nigrum

Nightshade; Nasgalbossie
Introduced from Europe in the 17th
century, it is now found widespread as a
weed. The leaves are soft green without any prickles. White flowers followed shiny
black berries. Flowers January to April. An exotic alien
Solanum panduriforme
Apple of Sodom; Gifappel
An introduced plant. A shrub 1m tall with very sharp spines on the stems and
leaves. The purple flowers are showy and followed by green fruits which turn bright
yellow and are poisonous. Flowers May to November. Found at the vehicles turning
circle. An exotic alien
Solanum americanum
Potato Creeper; Dronktou
A very common creeper along the coast where it climbs up into shrubs or sends
out long trailing stems on the dunes. The glossy leaves are green and it has small purple
flowers with deep yellow stamens followed by greenish-black fruit. Flowers December
to September.
SCROPHULARIACEAE
Sutura campanulata
A compact little plant with oval leaves and pale or dark purple flowers with
deep orange centres. Flowers September to May. Found along the vehicle pathway and
also along the walk in abundance.
Sutura pedunculata
A woody much branched shrublet with tiny leaves in whorls up the stems.
Flowers are deep purple in colour.
ZYGOPHYLLACEA
Zygophyllaceae morgsana
Leeubos; Skilpadbos
This shrub has an unusual looking fruit which is four-winged, green turning
papery-brown and hanging on the bush for some months. Flowers September to March.
ASTERACEAE
Gazania krebsiana
Oranjegousblom
A low stemless perennial with variable leaves on the same plant and bright
yellow flowers. Found growing along the verges of the trail, along Coffin Bay.
Helichrysum spiralepis
A low shrubby plant with leaves and stems felted with silvery hairs. The flowers
are usually salmon-pink or dark red.

Senecio elegans
Wild Cineraria; Strandblommetjie
A lovely plant, it makes large areas of colour on hillsides and sandy flats. Finely
cut leaves and bright pink flowers, August to March.
Metalasia muricata
Blombos
A slender shrub up to 1.5m tall with tiny leaves in spiky clusters and rounded
clusters of flower heads ranging in colour from white to a dull pink.
Ericiocephalus africanus
Wild Rosemary; Kapokbossie
An aromatic shrub, the upper portion becomes completely covered with rosy-
pink or white flower heads with dark red centres, followed by white, fluffy cotton wool-
like seed heads. Flowers May to October. Found all over the Reserve.
Senecio angulatus
Canary Creeper
A robust climbing plant which trails over cliffs, covers shrubs and scrambles
into tall trees. The glowing yellow flowers are especially noticeable in the forest.
Flowers April to July.
Felicia echinata
Dune Daisy; Bloublommetjie
A small shrub with stems that are covered with rough triangular leaves, the
lower ones curving downwards, each carrying 2-3 flowering heads with yellow centre
and purple petals. Flowers September to January. Found near the caves.
Helichrysum cooperi
Yellow Mountain Everlasting; Geelsewejaartjie
Up to 750 mm tall with silvery-green leaves, the yellow flowers of this plant are
strong smelling and will last several weeks, drying out gradually.
Helichrysum petiolare
Kooigoed
The leaves of this bush are soft and velvety, with white & yellow flowers that
are honey scented. Used for heart complaints, and also by florists.
VITACEAE
Rhoicissus tomentosa
Monkey Rope, Wild Grape; Bobbejaantou
Climbs by twining tendrils, main stem has rough bark and small brown flowers
& berries.
Secamone alpini
Monkey Rope; Bobbejaantou, Melktou

Stems up to 4 cm in diameter, twines anti-clockwise around trees and branches.
Contains a milky sap which is not poisonous if taken in small quantities. Flowers are
small and cream.
SALVADORACEAE
Azima tetracantha
Bee-Sting Bush; Byangelbos
Climber with pairs of soft green leaves which are protected by four needle-sharp
spines which, if encountered, produce the sensation of a bee sting. Located near
Nature’s Arch.
CELASTRACEAE
Lauridia tetragona
Small, single stemmed plant with new large red leaves which eventually turn
dark green. The stem is 4 sided (i.e. angular).
ANACARDIACEAE
Searsia glauca (previously Rhus glauca)
Taaibos
Scrambling shrubby tree of the coastal forest. Spear-shaped leaves on short
stems, male and female plants separate. Edible but sour berries may be used for making
traditional beers. These plants are useful in stabilising dunes.
Asparagus plumosus
Asparagus Fern
Twining climber with white sweet flowers and bright orange fruit.
Important Trees at Featherbed
18 Podocarpus latifolius
Real Yellowwood; Opregtegeelhout; umCheya
This was the first yellowwood discovered at the Cape by the early colonists. Its timber
was used more often than that of the kalander (it was only after the discovery of the
Kalander that the word `real’ was added to the common name of this species).
The timber was, and still is, sought after for beams and floors in building (many of the
old Cape Dutch houses had yellowwood floors), and for furniture. It was also used for
railway sleepers.
38 Myrica serrata
Mountain Waxberry; Bergwasbessie; uMakhuthula
The leaves, stems and bark produce an oil when they are boiled in water. In earlier
times this used to be skimmed off and used as wax.

39 Celtis Africana
White Stinkwood; Witstinkhout; umVumvu
The white stinkwood is not botanically related to the real stinkwood in any way. The
name of both trees, however, comes from the unpleasant smell that both give off when
they are cut.
The white stinkwood has white to yellowish coloured wood. Although it takes a good
finish, it is hard and difficult to work. It is suitable for making tool handles, bentwood
furniture, etc.
50 Ficus capensis
Wild fig; Wildevyeboom; umKhiwane
The light, soft wood is used for making drums, and was used for making break shoes on
ox wagons. The figs can be used for jam, although they have a very light taste.
In traditional medicine the milky sap is used for treating burns and conjunctivitis, and
an infusion of the leaves and bark is fed to cows that produce too little milk.
139 Pittosporum viridiflorum
White Cape Beech; Witboekenhout; umKhwenkwe
The wood is of little commercial value. The bark is used in traditional medicine for
treating stomach complaints and for red water in cattle.
140 Cunonia capensis
Red Alder; Rooi-els; umQashube
The wood is a rich red to light brown in colour, with white flecks. It is a good furniture
wood, is straight grained, even-textured and easy to work.
141 Platylophus trifoliatus
White Alder; Witels;
The wood is sought after for boat-building, furniture and fine veneers. It is generally a
pinkish-brown colour, although it can vary from yellowish to dark brown, and gnarled
trunks may produce a bird’s-eye grain. It is even textured and medium-hard.
A very important honey tree when in flower.
142 Trichocladus crinitus
Witch-hazel; Onderbos; iThambo;
This tree is the dominant under-growth species in the forests. The wood is hard and
white (the Xhosa name means `a bone’) but the tree is too small to produce useable-
sized timber.
254 Fagara davyi
Knobwood; Perdepram; umLungamabele
The hard, heavy, straight grained wood is strong and elastic and is suitable for tool
handles, walking sticks and fishing rods.
256 Calodendrum capense
Cape chestnut; Wildekastaiing; umBhaba
The trees are unmistakable when they are in full bloom because of their large bunches
of pink flowers which often cover the whole crown.

The wood is light yellow, strong and tough. It is used for furniture and tool handles.
298 Ekebergia capensis
Cape ash; Essenhout umGwenya-wezinja
The wood is light and even-textured. It is used for furniture. The bark is used as an
emetic, in treating dyssentry and in tanning. The roots are used for treating headaches,
and the leaves for the treatment of intestinal worms.
380 Rhus chirindensis
Red currant; Bostaaibos; umHlakothi
The wood is fine-textured, strong and heavy. The sapwood is yellow and the heartwood
is red. In earlier times it was used for wagon-building, flooring and furniture. It is
suitable for making veneers.
399 Maytenus heterophylla – Gymnospora buxifolia
Common spike thorn; Pendoring; umQaqoba
This small tree was the `kamanassi’ of the old Khoisan people and gave its name to the
Kamanassi Mountains and Kamanassi River.
409 Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus
Candlewood; Kershout; uGobandlovu
This tree has been known in English as `cherry wood’. This was based on a mis-
translation from the Afrikaans. Kershout means candlewood: kersiehout would be
cherry wood. Nevertheless it makes good fuel, and the early colonists used the branches
and roots, which contain an inflammable resin, as torches.
The dark red to mahogany brown wood has a fine grain and is very hard and heavy. It is
used for flooring, tool handles and veneers.
410 Cassine aethiopica
Cape Cherry; Kooboebessie; umBovane
The sweet fruits of this tree are edible. The wood is occasionally used for knobkerries,
tool handles and fuel.
422 Apodytes dimidiata
White Pear; Witpeer; umDakane
The wood is white to yellow, pale brown or pink. It is strong, elastic, hard and heavy,
and was at one time highly sought after for wagon-making. Today it is used for fine
furniture, turning, tool handles and rifle butts.
463 Grewia occidentalis
Dewberry; Kruisbessie; umNqabaza
The wood is used by the Xhosa for making assegais and by the San for bows. In
traditional medicine the bark is used in wound dressings. The plant is also used to help
ease childbirth, and to cure impotence and barrenness.

520 Passerina falcifolia
Gonna Bush; Gonnabos;
This tall shrub is named after the `Gonna Bushmen’: small, wandering tribes or families
of impoverished Khoi people who made rope from the fibrous bark of the Gonna bush
for sale to the early colonists.
570 Curtisia dentata
Assegai; Assegaai; umGxina
The wood is hard and heavy, dull red to pink and straight grained. Although it tends to
split when it is seasoned, assegai wood was found to be ideal for making spokes and
other parts for wagons. Because of this, large specimens are now rare.
The common name is a reference to the spear-like shape of the leaves: the wood has not
been recorded as having been used for making assegais.
579 Sideroxylon inerme
Milkwood; Melkhout; umQwashu
This is possibly the first tree you’ll see at Featherbed, as it forms the canopy over the
Food Forest Restaurant – where guests are welcomed to the Reserve. The wood is
yellow, strong, very hard and very durable. It was formerly used in boat building, but
the species is now protected and cutting is not allowed.
Three specimens of the Milkwood have been declared national monuments in South
Africa: the `Treaty Tree’ in Woodstock, near Cape Town (where the Cape was handed
over to the British after the battle of Blaauberg in 1806); the `Fingo Milkwood Tree’,
near Pedie in the Eastern Cape (where the Fingo People swore allegiance to the British
king after English soldiers led them to safety from attack by Chief Hintza); and the
`Post Office Tree’ in Mossel Bay. This most famous of Milkwood trees is said to have
been used as a `letter box’ by the old Portuguese mariners who rounded the Cape en
route for India. In 1500, Captain Pedro d’Ataide addressed a letter to Commander Jo o
da Nova and left it in an old shoe attached to the tree. It told how the famous explorer
Bartholomew Dias and his ship had been lost at sea. d’Ataide’s ship had been part of
the fleet which had sailed with Pedro Alvares Cabral (who, on his way to India in 1499,
become lost and accidentally discovered South America). The letter was discovered on
the 7th
of July 1501 by sailors of da Nova’s fleet - the third Portuguese fleet that sailed
for India.
In traditional medicine the bark is used in treating broken limbs and to dispel
nightmares.
603 Diospyros dichrophylla
Monkey Plum; Tolbos; umBongisa
The hard, black wood is seldom used except as fuel. The fruits are said to be poisonous.
617 Olea capensis
Wild Olive; Swartolienhout; umNquma
The heartwood of the wild olive is dark reddish-brown and beautifully figured. It is
strong, hard and heavy, and takes a fine finish. It is used for expensive furniture and
turning. Its durability makes it suitable for fencing posts.
In traditional medicine, the bark is used for relieving colic, and the leaves for sore
throats and eye infections in both animals and humans. The fruit is edible (although it is

not as big - nor as popular - as the commercial olive).
618.2 Olea capensis subsp. Macrocarpa
Ironwood or Black Ironwood; Ysterhout of Swartysterhout; Ugqwangxe
The wood of this subspecies is attractively figured, fine-grained, hard and heavy. It is
difficult to work, but it was used for flooring blocks, for railway sleepers and in bridge
construction. It makes beautiful furniture, and is suitable for veneers.
637 Buddleia salviifolia
Wild Sage; Wildesalie; iGqange
The wood is brown, close-grained, hard and heavy and was once used for making the
shafts of assegais. It makes good fishing rods.
In traditional medicine the root was used in the treatment of coughs and colic and the
leaves were used to ease eye infections.
670 Halleria lucida
Tree fuchsia; Notsung; umBinza
The leaves is used in traditional medicine to relieve earaches and the plant is used as a
charm against evil spirits. Although the fruit is edible, it tends to dry the mouth and has
a sickly sweet taste.
The wood is hard and heavy and seldom used.
688 Burchellia bubalina
Wild Pomegranate; Wildegranaat; unFincane
The dense and close-grained wood was once used in hut-building and for agricultural
tools.
The root of the wild pomegranate is used in traditional medicine as an emetic and body-
wash.
708 Canthium inerme
Turkey-berry; Bokdrol; umNyushulube
The wood is hard and heavy, pale brown with a marbled grain. It is not available in
large sizes, and is only used for small fancy items.
The leaves are used to treat stomach problems.
710 Canthium mundianum
Rock Alder; Klipels; umSantulane
The wood is yellowish-white, close-grained, hard and strong. It is said to be resistant to
termites and borers, and is suitable for furniture, fencing poles, tool handles and
turning.

711Psydrax obovata (Canthium obovatum)
Quar; Kwar; umGupe
The wood is very hard and heavy and durable. It is suitable for turning, but is rarely
used.
733 Tarconanthus camphoratus
Camphor Bush; Saliehout;
The greyish-brown wood is hard and heavy and polishes well. It has been used for
musical instruments, cabinet making and boat building.
Splinters are poisonous and cause septic wounds which heal with difficulty.
736.2 Chrysanthemoides monilifera
Bush-tick Berry; Bietou; ulwAmfithi
This plant gave its name to the Bietou River near Plettenerg Bay. Its fruits are edible,
and its leaves used in traditional medicine in preparing enemas and to cure fevers.
Invader Plants
Some plants which are foreign to this country have become pests which are threatening
our indigenous vegetation, and our water supply. The consequences of not controlling
these weeds could create enormous problems such as a dwindling water supply, the
danger of run-away fires, and the destruction of natural habitat that is of value to
tourism.
The weeds that are perhaps best known in the Southern Cape are the hakeas and
Australian wattles, which have invaded large tracts of land in this area:
• Acacia cyclops (Red-eye or rooikrans) - this tree quickly forms impenetrable stands
which prevent the growth of indigenous flora. It is an invader in the fynbos as well
as the succulent Karroo and even the forests of this area.

Ferry boats and Fossil Fish - Featherbed Nature Reserve Knysna

Ferry boats and Fossil Fish - Featherbed Nature Reserve Knysna

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Ferry boats and Fossil Fish - Featherbed Nature Reserve Knysna

Similar to Ferry boats and Fossil Fish - Featherbed Nature Reserve Knysna (20)

More from Martin Hatchuel

More from Martin Hatchuel (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Ferry boats and Fossil Fish - Featherbed Nature Reserve Knysna