In both South Africa and Australia, large regions of nutrient-poor substrates have distinctive floras, dominated by sclerophyllous or semi-sclerophyllous, fire-prone shrubs.
These are 'heathlands' in a loose sense (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-68935-2_2 and https://search.worldcat.org/title/ecosystems-of-the-world-9b-heathlands-and-related-shrublands-analytical-studies/oclc/1003129176 and https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982JEcol..70..922G/abstract).
The families Polygonaceae (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygonaceae) and Plumbaginaceae (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbaginaceae) would not seem to belong in these ecosystems.
This is because these two closely-related dicotyledonous families are mainly
So, Polygonaceae and Plumbaginaceae seem remote from the 'southern heathland' floras, both geographically and ecologically.
However, these families have managed to defy the general pattern in a limited way, which tends to pass under the radar for botanists whose interest is centred on fynbos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fynbos) in South Africa and/or kwongan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwongan) in Australia.
What are easy to overlook are that
The species to which I refer are as follows:
Polygonum undulatum is remarkable partly because it has undergone some degree of evolutionary convergence with the 'ericoid' growth-form (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=592411). I refer to the following features
Most species of the same genus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygonum), which occur in the Northern Hemisphere, are herbaceous and deciduous (including annuals). Many are weedy/ruderal (https://www.wswa.org.au/western_weeds/polygonaceae.htm), and some are so thoroughly domesticated that they have become important in agriculture.
Limonium kraussianum (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589185-Limonium-kraussianum)
Limonium peregrinum (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589189-Limonium-peregrinum)
Lumonium purpuratum (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589190-Limonium-purpuratum)
Limonium longifolium (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589187-Limonium-longifolium)
Limonium capense (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589179-Limonium-capense)
Limonium anthericoides (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589178-Limonium-anthericoides)
Limonium acuminatum (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589176-Limonium-acuminatum)
Lumonium equisetinum (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589184-Limonium-equisetinum)
Limonium sp. nov. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ladislav-Mucina/publication/46888924_Syntaxonomy_and_zonation_patterns_in_coastal_salt_marshes_of_the_Uilkraals_Estuary/links/590e9c83a6fdccad7b10e0ee/Syntaxonomy-and-zonation-patterns-in-coastal-salt-marshes-of-the-Uilkraals-Estuary.pdf)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muehlenbeckia_adpressa
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/105053325 and https://exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au/site/hellfire-bay and https://stock.adobe.com/images/hellfire-bay-is-a-popular-beach-in-the-cape-le-grand-national-park-west-of-esperance-western-australia-australia/275286283 and https://www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/western-australia/hellfire-bay-trail
Comments
https://www.botanicgardens.org.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/Volume-8%282%29-2003-Cun8Gri202-252.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armeria
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Places-of-botanical-diversity-in-the-Southwest-of-Western-Australia-The-Southwest_fig1_259165517
https://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/media/files/jewel_of_the_australian_continent_1.pdf
https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/anhsir/anhsir-manual/botanical-districts.html
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3996981
https://peerj.com/articles/7336/
https://peerj.com/articles/11916/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ladislav-Mucina/publication/298085539_Vegetation_of_the_coastal_fynbos_and_rocky_headlands_south_of_George_South_Africa/links/616fc611c891c4663aaa9a26/Vegetation-of-the-coastal-fynbos-and-rocky-headlands-south-of-George-South-Africa.pdf
https://journals.abcjournal.aosis.co.za/index.php/abc/article/view/543
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254629914001112
https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2fCYWrKJAu4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA325&dq=Limonium+in+Cape+flora&ots=2nePW1KXIS&sig=qmbxM-ONKmcLv6C0VcacDwpnc6I#v=onepage&q=Limonium%20in%20Cape%20flora&f=false
https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3732/ajb.92.7.1189
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790308003047
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589186-Limonium-linifolium
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589182-Limonium-dregeanum
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1414648-Limonium-dagmariae
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589191-Limonium-teretifolium
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