Anso le Roux Private Collection

Anso le Roux is a plant ecologist and for almost twenty years now, studying the vegetation ecology of the Worcester-Robertson Karoo south of Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa, which comprises a diverse mosaic of fynbos-, renosterveld- and succulent karoo vegetation units sustained by a winter-rainfall pattern.

This mountainous area includes a diverse and complex mosaic of geological strata, which includes mudrock and sandstone formations of the Table Mountain Group, the Bokkeveld Group, the Witteberg Group as well as glacial Dwyka tillite, marking the geological boundary between the Cape Supergroup and the Karoo Supergroup. These diverse geological features, which include over almost two hundred million years of sediment accumulation as well as an ice age, together with the topography of the area that is characterised by intense folding, as well as a steep precipitation gradient and different influences of winter rain (in the west) and summer rain (in the east) create micro-climate environments which result in the high biodiversity of this complex mosaic mountain vegetation entity.

Anso is a Research Fellow at the University of the Western Cape and although her primary work involves phytosociological research (vegetation surveys, plant identification as well as data gathering, management and analysis), she is also involved in taxonomic studies as well as ecological monitoring related to questions arising from the long-term vegetation study that she is conducting. She is often requested to help with lecturing and supporting students with fieldwork, plant identification as well as assisting with other ecological work in the Western Cape. She frequently uses the JSTOR Global Plants website to investigate type specimens, which is of immense help in the investigation of taxonomic uncertainties. Because of this, she is delighted to share her private collection of pictures of plants and flowers photographed over the years.

Materials contributed by Anso le Roux Private Collection (DALRPC):

• Flora of Mosaic Mountain Veld South of Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa