24. COAST-HINTERLAND BUSHVELD

Synonym:

Ngongoni Veld (A5).

Statistics:

10 185 km²; ± 87% transformed; 3.56% conserved.

Locality & Physical Geography:

This vegetation type occupies an irregular area of rolling country on the lower escarpment slopes of the Drakensberg, in the Melmoth-Eshowe area, at an altitude of 450 to 900 m above sea level.

Climate:

The area is cooler and drier than the coastal belt, with a rainfall of 750 to 1 300 mm per year. Mean daily temperatures in January are around 22C with a maximum of about 28C. July mean temperatures are around 14C with minima as low as 7C.

Geology & Soil:

Soils are weakly developed, with shallow topsoils underlain by a lithocutanic B horizon. Where soil development has proceeded further, red or black clays may characterise the subsoil.

Vegetation:

The vegetation is an open Sweet Thorn Acacia karroo savanna or scrub, with Ngongoni Bristlegrass Aristida junciformis almost entirely dominant. At well preserved sites other species include Redgrass Themeda triandra, Hairy Tridentgrass Tristachya leucothrix, Speargrass Heteropogon contortus, Trachypogon spicatus, Diheteropogon amplectens, Eulalia villosa, Alloteropsis semialata, Sporobolus africanus and Monocymbium ceresiiforme. Forbs such as Natal Vernonia Vernonia natalensis, Wild Verbena Pentanisia prunelloides, Rasp Thistlethorn Berkheya setifera, Thunbergia atriplicifolia and Tephrosia macropoda are abundantly present.

Key Environmental Parameters:

In numerous lower altitude valleys, Valley Thicket occurs. In more sheltered valleys or on slopes well-developed Forests are present. For this reason Acocks classified this as a forest type. The Coast-Hinterland Bushveld, by contrast, occupies the more exposed, upland hilltops and ridges.

Economic Uses:

Grazing by cattle.

Conservation Status:

Poorly conserved.

Key References:

Moll (1976, 1978a, b).

Author:

Ed Granger.