Location: Globe Rock, Vumba

Photo: Bart Wursten
Globe Rock with Lake Chicamba (Mozambique) in the background

Photo: Bart Wursten
Aloe cameronii and Myrothamnus flabellifolius in vegetation islands

Photo: Bart Wursten
Rich mist-belt vegetation on rocks and trees

Photo: Bart Wursten
Brachystegia spiciformis with evergreen forest in the ravines

General Information

Description

Globe Rock is part of the escarpment in the Eastern Vumba Mountains, which drops down towards the Burma Valley. Many of these East-facing cliff sites offer a spectacular diversity in their flora, due to the high annual rainfall and the regular mists, which supply moisture in otherwise drier times.

The more exposed areas are generally bare, except for vegetation islands in depressions and in the shelter of large rocks and boulders. Typical flora of such islands include carpets of the moss-like Selaginella dregei (Pteridophyta), Aloe cameronii (Aloaceae), the Resurrection bush, Myrothamnus flabellifolius (Myrothamnaceae), Xerophyta spp., and various Crassulaceae and grasses.

The trees (Brachystegia spiciformis) and boulders in more sheltered situations are often laden with lichens, mosses and epiphytic and lithophytic ferns and flowering plants, such as Peperomia spp. (Piperaceae), Kleinia galpinii (Asteraceae), and various orchids. The deeper ravines between the cliffs form catchment areas and starting points for small streams and often contain pockets of sub-montane evergreen forest.

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