Photographic guide to the wildflowers of South Africa.

Pretoria: Briza Books, 2003.
Octavo, paperback, 352 pp. colour photographs, maps.

An easy-to-use format divides the country into three main wildflower regions, Grassland and Savannah, Fynbos and Namaqualand, grouping the species into each region.
An ingenious quick guide helps the reader to narrow down the options at a glance.
Authored and illustrated by professionals with wide experience in producing guidebooks, Wildflowers of South Africa is the key to unlocking South Africa`s wildflower heritage.
Each of the almost 900 species is illustrated and described, with information on its common and scientific names, habitat, distribution map, flowering times and local uses.
Similar species are placed together to aid comparison and the concise text highlights their differences.
DUSTWRAPPER TEXT
South Africa has a rich flora of around 19 000 different wildflower species. Several of these, especially proteas, gerberas, agapanthus and clivias, are now internationally known, while the brightly coloured flowers of freesias, nerinas, sparaxis and chincherinchees have become favourites in gardens throughout the world. Each year thousands of visitors are drawn to the spring wildflower displays that transform the landscapes of Namaqualand and the Western Cape. For those who wish to know more about South Africa?s wildflowers this very richness poses its own problems. Most flower guides cover little more than small stretches of the country and the others include too few species to be of much use.Wildflowers of South Africa aims to overcome these deficiencies. Carefully conceived to cover those wildflowers that are most likely to attract attention, this countrywide guide includes nearly 900 of the most common and conspicuous wildflowers that occur in South Africa and the neighbouring countries of Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. The authorJohn Manning is a research botanist at the National Botanical Institute in Cape Town and is a world authority on the iris and hyacinth families. He has written or co-authored over 100 popular and scientific papers as well as seven wildflower guides. He has a particular interest in popularising South Africa?s wildflowers and has become widely recognised as an illustrator and flower photographer in the process.