INTRODUCTION
Wetlands are recognized as one of the richest and most productive ecosystems on earth.
Associated with wetlands are a wide range of specially adapted plant species giving food and
shelter to a variety of animal life. Earlier man also relied on food found in wetlands. In more modern
times wetlands were regarded as useless and wetlands were extensively drained to produce arable
land for crops. The drive now is to conserve and restore wetlands as far as possible.
The initial drive behind conservation was the signing of a Wetland Convention in Ramsar in 1971,
to save wetlands on a global scale because of waterfowl, but more recently conservation is also
because of the plants and animals that live in these areas. South Africa signed the Wetland
convention in 1975 and are bound by this.
Wetlands in South Africa are protected by Law (Water Act of South Africa (Act 36 of 1998). There
are different types of wetland but in broad it can be described as “land which is transitional between
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the
land is periodically covered with shallow water, and which land in normal circumstances support or
would support vegetation typically adapted to life in (water or) saturated soil.”
In classifying wetlands the following diagnostic characteristics are used:
“land which is transitional between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, where the water
table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is periodically covered with shallow
water’, and which land soils (called hydromorphic soils) display typical characteristics of
soils that are subject to prolonged periods of saturation.
The occasional or permanent presence of water supporting plants that grow in water
saturated conditions (known as hydrophytes or obligate wetland plants).
A high water table that leads to anaerobic conditions in the top 50cm of the soil.
Recently a list of wetland plants in Southern Africa has been completed by Glen (2010), but there
is no field guide available for the layman or student on the wetland plants of South Africa. The
number of plants associated with wetlands in South Africa is such that all could not be published in
one book. This lead to this field guide, that primarily includes obligate wetland plants as outlined in
the caption of this book, with special focus on all grass-like plants. The plant families included are
all monocotyledons and include the Cyperaceae (sedges), Eriocaulaceae (eriocaulons), Juncaceae
(rushes), Poaceae (grasses), Prioniaceae (palmiet), Restionaceae (restios), Typhaceae (bulrushes)
and the Xiridaceae (yellow-eyed grasses).
South Africa is known to be a water scarce country. The continuous supply and protection of our
water resources is essential for the country. Wetlands are important in the protection, processing
and regulation of runoff. A wetland acts as a great sponge, holds back flood waters and releases it
during the drier periods. Wetlands, therefore, reduce flood damage and soil erosion. Wetlands are
also ground water recharge sites, and it has the ability to remove pollutants from the water.