Grassland communities of the Amatola/Winterberg mountain region of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

A phytosociological classification of the grassland communities of the Amatola-Winterberg mountain chain in the Eastern Cape and surrounding lowlands is presented. Background on the physical environment is provided. The study area was stratified on the basis of Acocks’s (1988) Veld Types as well as local topography. An initial classification was performed using two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) followed by subjective rearrangement according to the methods and techniques of the Braun-Blanquet school of phytosociology. Five grassland associations, one dwarf shrubland association and two savanna associations, as well as a drainage line grassland association are formally described. Syntaxa are described using diagnostic floristic elements and characterised using habitat criteria. Climatic factors explain most distinctions between associations in the same structural class, and substrate and topography account for local structural differences