In Module 8  we learned that Fynbos soils are so poor in nutrients that few plants can afford to produce fleshy fruits. Most of the Sand Fynbos plants shown on the poster produce small, hard seeds that are dispersed by wind or ants.

In this section we learn how a few other lowland animals help plants to move from place to place.

• The Bietou or Tick Berry (Chrysanthemoides monilifera) is a common large daisy bush that grows in Strandveld and Renosterveld.
• Most daisy flowers produce dry fruits (e.g. Rain Daisy, Sunflower and Dandelion) but the Bietou produces berries.
• Like most fruit, Bietou berries are green when they are unripe. They blend in with the leaves and do not attract birds. As they ripen and become sweet they turn dark purple. Birds like the Cape Bulbul are attracted to the berries. They eat the berries and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
• Another plant on the poster that produces berries dispersed by birds is the White Milkwood tree (Sideroxylon inerme).

Did you know?

People, baboons and buck enjoy eating indigenous fruit like berries, Sour Figs (Carpobrotus edulis) and Kukumakranka (Gethylis afra) fruit. The seeds inside the fleshy fruits have hard seed coats to protect them as they travel through the digestive system. They are dispersed in the droppings.

• Tortoises disperse the seeds of low-growing shrubs. In fact, one spiny shrub in the Strandveld is called the Tortoise Berry (Nylandtia spinsosa).
• It produces bright red, juicy berries that provide tortoises with food as well as moisture during summer.

• The Karoo Prinia (Prinia maculosa) is a common bush bird with spots on its chest and a long tail that it often raises.
• It lines its nest with the fluffy seeds of Wild Rosemary (Eriocephalus africanus). After the chicks have grown and the nest disintegrates, the seeds are released.

• Molerats are neither moles nor rats; in fact, they are more closely related to Porcupines. The Dune Molerat is the largest mammal that lives its entire life underground. Males can weigh up to 1,5 kg.
• Molerats eat corms and bulbs and help to disperse many geophytes.
• One of the plants the molerat disperses is the Vlei-uintjie (Moraea ramosissima). It has spiny roots that form a cage around the main corm to protect it. Outside this cage are many tiny corms that are attached to the plant by fine threads. As the Molerat tries to get to the main corm to eat it, it dislodges the small corms and disperses them through its burrow.
• Molerats store extra bulbs and corms that they can’t eat in underground larders.