Sunday Argus July 28, 2013

15
Tope Folarin s achievement has made the reading public sit up and take notice
Page 22

Justice Langa will be remembered as a quiet, stern and remarkable jurist

Page 17

New hope for Capes endangered silver tree with restoration project
Thousands of seedlings planted on Table Mountain will form shaded avenue tracing historical city route, writes John Yeld

ABLE Mountains iconic silver tree was described by the great 18th century Swedish scientist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus as the most shining and splendid of all trees. But this beautiful member of the protea family is also considered endangered, because the population on the mountains slopes has been reduced by three-quarters since early colonial times, and its limited natural habitat of granitic clay soil has shrunk by at least 55 percent because of development and other factors. Now, a major restoration project has been launched, with several thousand trees being planted to create what will eventually become the shaded Silver Tree Avenue walking route, tracing the historical route of Rhodes Drive between Kirstenbosch and its intersection with Southern Cross Drive. The Silver Tree Restoration Project is a legacy project to mark this years centenary celebrations of both the Botanical Society of SA and Kirstenbosch national botanical garden (the society is older by a mere three weeks). The two partners have teamed up in a collaboration with SA National Parks that manages the Table Mountain National Park, the main habitat of the silver tree, the SA National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) that manages Kirstenbosch, the Kew (London)-based Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, and major sponsor E Oppenheimer & Son South Africa. In the past two weeks, close to 8 000 silver tree seedlings have been planted along the route that runs from near Kirstenboschs Rycroft (top) gate, through the boundary of Kirstenbosch with the Cecilia pine plantation now part of the Table Mountain National Park and along the former Rhodes Drive route, to where it meets up with the historic avenue of cork oaks, among the exotic trees planted on what was then Cecil John Rhodess private track leading to Constantia Nek. During a dry run on July 18 that marked their 67

BUSY HANDS: Sarah-Leigh Hutchinson of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership helps Sunray Primary School (Delft) pupils Qondu Madikane, 12, and Nelisa Mazibu, 11, plant a silver tree seedling at Kirstenbosch as part of the Silver Tree Restoration Project. SILVER LINING: The seedlings are transported to the site for planting as part of the new Silver Tree Avenue above Kirstenbosch.

LEGACY: Charmaine Hendricks, a teacher at Marine Primary School at Ocean View, her four-year-old daughter Mia and pupil Alicia Vannel plant a silver tree seedling at Kirstenbosch as part of the Silver Tree Restoration Project. PICTURES: ANTHONY HITCHCOCK

Occurred all over lower northern slopes of mountain

THE STATELY Silver Tree is as much a feature of Cape Town as Table Mountain, the Protea Atlas Project suggests. It notes that, according to historical records, the species occurred all over the lower northern slopes of Table Mountain and it was sufficiently common on the Peninsula for landowners to name their farms Witteboom and Silverhurst (hurst wooded hill). The first recorded use of the name Silverboom was by German astronomer, mathematician and natural historian Peter Kolbe, who lived at the Cape from 1705-1713. The distribution of the Silver Tree that grows to 10m is something of a mystery , and some scientists believe it is a Peninsula endemic, meaning it occurs naturally only here and that the populations at Paarl Mountain (first recorded in 1844), Simonsberg and Silverboomkloof (Helderberg) were planted. The project points out that the genus Protea, and indeed the family Proteaceae, were originally named after the Silver Tree by Swedish taxonomist Linnaeus in 1753, who called the tree Protea argentea. (Argenteus is Latin for silvery.) It was only in 1771 that Linnaeus redefined the Protea in the way that its used today , and this particular species is now correctly the Silver Tree Conebush Leucadendron argenteum, with conebushes being part of the Protea family . (http://www.proteaatlas. org.za/silver.htm)

Minutes contribution to Madibas birthday , about 80 staff from Kirstenbosch, the national park and the Botanical Society managed to plant more than 3 500 silver tree seedlings trees in only two hours. And on Wednesday , a bigger group of more than 100 which included VIP guests, stakeholders, sponsors and pupils from several schools who were visiting Kirstenbosch planted another 4 000 of these plants. In a briefing before the group set out, Botanical Society chief executive Zaitoon Rabaney told them: Its all about the passion and the people and the partners. Its about building a firm legacy with this very special tree, the

silver tree thats whats happening here today . The father of the project Kirstenboschs nursery , plant collections and Millennium Seed Bank manager Anthony Hitchcock quipped that he had good news for them: Im going to allow you to get your hands dirty today . Although the silver tree is but one of many threatened species that the botanical garden is working on, the tree is none the less a very special, iconic flagship, which he described as one of the most beautiful trees in the world. Without concerted conservation efforts, it is estimated that about 85 percent of this species natural

population would be lost by 2025, he added Fortunately , we have this collaboration. The projects mother Kirstenbosch horticulturist Louise Nurrish explained to Weekend Argus that the project started late last year with seed being collected from surrounding natural populations of silver trees. This tricky job involves climbing mature trees to harvest cones, which are stored high up among the branches. The Kirstenbosch estate team, led by foreman Frans Adonis, tackled the task and collected well over 12 000 seeds, while a SANParks team under Chamell Pluim had also collected seeds.

Some of these seeds had been sown in January with the aim of producing large plants for this weeks VIP planting, said Nurrish. But nothing germinated. I checked the seeds in the soil and even cut a few open, but they hadnt rotted and were perfectly viable. Silver tree seeds were normally sown in autumn and had a good germination rate, she added. Clearly they werent going to germinate out of season in the middle of summer. So it was time to see if I could fiddle with natures natural rhythms and coax these seeds into germinating. Using a technique honed by

the grand master of protea growing, Robbie Thomas of Bettys Bay , Nurrish soaked the seed for 24 hours in a mixture of diluted hydrogen peroxide and smoked water. She then rinsed the excess hydrogen peroxide off the seed with fresh water and planted them in damp peat in a plastic bag. During the day the bags were left open to breathe at room temperature and in the evenings resealed and placed in the fridge. After 20 days I noticed some of the seeds beginning to crack open fantastic. Finally there were signs of germination. Kirstenboschs protea nursery specialist Welcome Mange then removed the seeds

from the bags and planted them into seed trays in the gardens collections nursery . The remaining 10 000 seeds were planted in May and because it was now the correct season for sowing, the seeds germinated happily, said Nurrish. Restoration of silver trees has been done before at Kirstenbosch and the best success has been achieved by planting out newly germinated seedlings. So the pressure was now on, and Welcome was faced with the mammoth task of potting up thousands of seedlings into plug trays. With mentoring and help from erica and fynbos specialist Ntsindiso Zide, he enthusiastically

finished the potting with not a single mortality , she said. Table Mountain National Park management said the project aimed to secure the future of the silver tree as an icon of biodiversity conservation on Table Mountain. The project is also in line with its Tokai and Cecilia Management Framework 20052025, which requires that silver trees be planted in areas cleared of pine trees to help restore this endemic species. The new Silver Tree Avenue would be nurtured and monitored as the seedlings developed into a beautifully shaded walkway. john.yeld@inl.co.za

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