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Restios . |
Sunset Beach. | |||||
| Cape Town. | |||||||
| Restios are the unique distinguishing feature of fynbos. |
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| Although the restios may be overlooked by the unwary the Cape restios provide astonishing beauty, diversity and adaptability. | |||||||
| Cape reeds, biesies, dekriet, or restios - these are some of the common names that have been applied to the South African members of the family Restionaceae. | |||||||
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They
are
grass like
plants,
related
to,
and
at
first
glance,
looking
fairly
similar
to
the
families
of
grasses
and
sedges.
However
they
have
some
very
distinguishing
characteristics
.
And
indeed
whilst
many
plant
families
contribute
to
the
wealth
of
the
fynbos
,
the
presence
of
restios
is
THE
unique
distinguishing
feature
of
our
fynbos. To many they have so far remained unknown, as people tend to be attracted by the spectacular , colored flowers of the fynbos. But once discovered the restios with their golden brown and bronze flower heads provide astonishing beauty, and diversity. There are about 480 species of restios globally, occurring mainly in the Southern Hemisphere countries. Of these about 330 species are found in the Cape Floral Kingdom and of these 100 occur in the Cape Peninsula. |
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Grasses, Sedges and Restios. |
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| Restios
are
closely
related
to
grasses
and
sedges
and
these
different
families
indeed
look
very
similar. Fynbos includes some beautiful grasses - the Dune Grass, Thinopyrum distichum in the picture left taken directly in front of the Beach House is one example. Interestingly, the lawn at the Beach House, buffalo lawn (Stenotophum secundatum) is also endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom. |
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| The
Dune
Sedge,
Hellmuthea
membranacea,
looks
very
much
like
a
restio
and
indeed
it
had
taken
me
some
time
to
realize
that
it
was
not
a
restio!
This
sedge
occurs
in
dune
fynbos
and
is
only
found
between
the
Cape
Peninsula
and
along
the
Garden
Route
as
far
as
Knysna.
The
photograph
right
was
taken
on
the
dunes
at
the
Beach
House
where
a
number
of
these
plants
came
up
wild
since
irrigating
part
of
the
dune.
Grasses have their flowers (inflorescence) at the tip of the culms, which are usually hollow, the leaves have blades and leafsheats at nodes along the culms. Sedges have inflorescence that are not at the tip of the culms, the culms are usually solid and although the leaves have blades and leafsheats these are clustered at the base of the culms and there are no nodes on the culms. Restios on the other hand have their inflorescence at the tip of the culms, which are mostly solid, the leaves have no blades but leafsheats only which occurs at nodes along the culms. The leafsheats is always split down to the base and may persist or drop off. |
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Restio Morphology. |  |
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| Growth
Form:
The
picture left is an adult
Chondropetalum
erbacteatum showing the typical
tufted growth
that
is
the
dominant
and
characteristic
restio
growth
form
in
fynbos. However, some restios form tangled bushes with branching culms while the tall restios grow up to 3 m in height with culms that are often bamboo-like at the base. Rhizomes: Restios have 3 main parts, the stem or culms, an underground stem called a rhizome and the roots. Rhizomes can be distinguished from roots by the fact that they have nodes and internodes like stems. Roots and culms are short lived (at most 3 years) the rhizome is the organ that gives the plant longevity. |
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Culms:
Restio
stems
are
called
culms.
The
culms
are
the
only
parts
of
the
plants
that
are
green
and
therefore
responsible
for
photosynthesis.
The
culms
have
a variety
of
features
that
are
easily
recognized
and
is
commonly
used
as
the
first
step
in
identifying
different
genera. Sheaths: Restios do not have leaves like those of most flowering plants - their leaves are reduced to just the (leaf) sheaths as illustrated in the picture left. The sheaths occurs in two different forms: persistent sheaths that shows a spectacular variety of shapes and sizes and sheaths that drop of once the culms are mature. inflorescences: In restios the inflorescences are made up of spikelets, which can be seen in the two pictures right. Each spikelets contains bracts, which are modified leaves that protect the flowers. The family is dioecious, i.e. the male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. |
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| Male
and
female
inflorescences
of
the
same
species
of
restio
can
be
very
different
as
illustrated
in
the
picture
above
right
and
on
the
subsequent
two
pages. Fruit: The fruit of most restios consists of a capsule containing seeds while some genera produce nuts that contains a single seed. |
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Order
Your
Copy
of
RESTIOS
of
the
Fynbos |
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| Click on icon left to find out more! |
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Photographs
of restios and text used on these pages from "Restios of the
Fynbos" Els Dorrat Haaksma and H. Peter
Linder. Published by the
Botanical Society of South
Africa. 2000. |
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Where to go? |
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Contact:
info@sunsetbeach.co.za |
Janthina |
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Siffie for Beach Hotel Rates | |||||||
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