The Flora Documentation Programme (FDP) is a photographic record of indigenous flora currently occurring on the Cape Peninsula. For each species, historical and contemporary botanical records and descriptions accompany the photographs. Only photographs taken on the Peninsula are included. As far as possible, photographs show the habitat of the plant and details of leaf and flower. The FloraDoc group is affiliated with the South African National Biodiversity Institute's Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers Programme (CREW) and shares information and conducts monitoring work with CREW.
A History of FloraDoc
In 1982 Deon Kesting began to photograph the wildflowers of the Cape Peninsula and to consult published botanical guides in order to identify them. Ten years later, he compared his first checklist of photographed species with Adamson & Salter's 1950 record and compiled descriptive notes on each species from numerous botanical sources. These notes and photographs he mounted in albums. He was encouraged in this work by botanists at the University of Cape Town the then National Botanical Institute.
Deon donated these albums to Friends of Silvermine Nature Area (FOSNA) in 1996 but continued his photography and the updating of the checklist of the Flora Documentation Programme (FDP). By the end of the decade a growing sub-committee of FOSNA had been formed to assist him. Deon updated his checklist in 2003 and it appeared for the first time as a publication: A Checklist: Wild flowers of the Cape Peninsula. The albums were housed in the library of the St Leger Retirement Hotel in Muizenberg, and are still preserved in a private home today. Since the advent of the digital age however, the photos were all scanned and, with the new photos, are now digitally stored in a database program created by Chris Walker and managed by Corinne Merry. The database now contains over 4500 photos as well as descriptions from the botanical literature and photographs of over 2500 Peninsula species. The sub-committee, chaired by Yvonne Viljoen, strives to complete the photographic record.
The FloraDoc database is available for sale on a DVD from FOSNA (see contacts) and at the Kirstenbosch Bookshop. It is also available as an app for iPhone and Android phones. It can be bought on the AppStore or PlayStore – when you have opened AppStore of PlayStore on your phone, search for FloraDoc and follow instructions. The app sells for R269.99 (VAT incl.). A receipt will be sent to you by email. Profits will go towards FOSNA’s conservation projects.
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| Gigi Laidler, CREW Research Support, Custodians of Rare and
Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) Programme, SANBI |
In 1982 Deon Kesting began to photograph the wildflowers of the Cape Peninsula and to consult published botanical guides in order to identify them. Ten years later, he compared his first checklist of photographed species with Adamson & Salter's 1950 record and compiled descriptive notes on each species from numerous botanical sources. These notes and photographs he mounted in albums. He was encouraged in this work by botanists at the University of Cape Town the then National Botanical Institute.
Deon donated these albums to Friends of Silvermine Nature Area (FOSNA) in 1996 but continued his photography and the updating of the checklist of the Flora Documentation Programme (FDP). By the end of the decade a growing sub-committee of FOSNA had been formed to assist him. Deon updated his checklist in 2003 and it appeared for the first time as a publication: A Checklist: Wild flowers of the Cape Peninsula. The albums were housed in the library of the St Leger Retirement Hotel in Muizenberg, and are still preserved in a private home today. Since the advent of the digital age however, the photos were all scanned and, with the new photos, are now digitally stored in a database program created by Chris Walker and managed by Corinne Merry. The database now contains over 4500 photos as well as descriptions from the botanical literature and photographs of over 2500 Peninsula species. The sub-committee, chaired by Yvonne Viljoen, strives to complete the photographic record.
The FloraDoc database is available for sale on a DVD from FOSNA (see contacts) and at the Kirstenbosch Bookshop. It is also available as an app for iPhone and Android phones. It can be bought on the AppStore or PlayStore – when you have opened AppStore of PlayStore on your phone, search for FloraDoc and follow instructions. The app sells for R269.99 (VAT incl.). A receipt will be sent to you by email. Profits will go towards FOSNA’s conservation projects.