Editorial
Despite having missed out on several months of botanical exploration due to the lockdown restrictions and the fact that most nature reserves were closed during the earlier, more strict levels of lockdown, it has still been possible to find some solace in visiting wild areas.
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| Textures of grass; our attention is often caught by the bright colours of flowers causing us to overlook the stark patterns in grass inflorescenses (Photos by T. McClurg and G. Grieve) |
After the publication of the last edition of PlantLife, a reader enquired about the possibility of being able to download the edition. I have looked into this and found that it is a relatively simple task to generate a PDF file of each article and these can be agglomerated together into the full edition. I will therefore be adding links in appropriate places to take readers who wish to have such archive material to these PDF files for downloading. I have already done this for Volumes 45 to 49 and these downloads can be found by following the "Back Issues" tab at the top of the home page for this website.
With regard to the bulk of the older back issues, SANBI are working with the University of Pretoria's library staff to scan all the old hard-copy volumes into searchable PDF format, and these will be made available by posting links in the "Back Issues" tab as soon as this process is finalised.
This PlantLife Volume 50 edition has turned out to be a bumper one - providing plenty of interesting reading for the festive season downtime.
This edition has the honour of being the first publication of images of the recently described Hesperantha mtamvunae in the article "A new species of Hesperantha" by Kate Grieve. The description of this species is covered in a new SANBI Strelitzia publication "Iridaceae of southern Africa" by Goldblatt and Manning, which is reviewed in this edition of PlantLife. Another article by Lloyd Mhlongo describes his exciting re-discovery of the "Critically Endangered, Presumed Extinct" Turraea streyi while doing field work towards his PhD. We have an additional article describing the chance find of Nervilea kotshyi in a conservation area near Port Shepstone, representing a significant extension to the known range for the species. We also have an interesting paper on the data-deficient species Kniphofia ichopensis var. aciformis, again providing the first photos of this species to be published.
South Africa has its fair share of Invasive Alien Plants that arrived on our shores from various sources, from khakibos to cosmos to Chromolaena and many others. In this edition, Richard Boon provides us with a look at how some South African species have become serious weeds in the state of Victoria in Australia.
There is an article on the pollinators and predators of Aloe pretoriensis. We also have two articles centered around the Ethekweni municipal area, one on the threatened coastal forests of KZN and another about the Buffelsdraai Rehabilitation project.
If the range of papers in the edition seem a little KZN-centric, I apologise for that but it is not for want of trying to attract submissions from further afield. This probably reflects my lack of a contact network outside of KwaZulu-Natal. Any readers from other provinces, or indeed from outside South Africa, are welcome to send me articles or to suggest who might be able to do so. My address is plantlife.editor@gmail.com.
My thanks go to all the authors of articles in this edition for their willingness to contribute some of their knowledge. To them and to all readers of PlantLife, the editorial team wish you all of the best for a new year in which we hope the pandemic absorbs less of our attention.
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