Maputo Special Reserve, Mozambique Photograph by Judy Oglethorpe   Southeastern Africa: Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   11,700 square miles (30,200 square kilometers) -- about the size of Maryland and Delaware combined Critical/Endangered

· Botanical Bounty
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Botanical Bounty

The Maputaland Coastal Forest Mosaic ecoregion teems with an incredible variety of plants, from aloes to succulent euphorbias that resemble cactus. Known as a center of plant diversity, this ecoregion is home to more than 200 endemic plants. Trees such as real yellowwood and white witchhazel are common, as well as shrubs and climbers like common spikethorn and cat-thorn and grasses such as basketgrass. Many of the plants here are valued for their medicinal properties. In fact, this region is one of the major sources for the medicinal plant trade in southern Africa. The region is also home to an amazing diversity of reptiles, many of which are endemic. The forest thread snake, for example, is a small snake restricted to the coastal forests.

Special Features

The Maputaland Coastal Forest Mosaic ecoregion defines the southern edge of the range of many tropical plants and animals in southern Africa. It’s referred to as a mosaic because of the diversity of forests that can be seen here. In South Africa alone, vegetation of this ecoregion has been classified into 15 major types, ranging from coast grassland to dense forest.

	Approximately 900 plants in this ecoregion are used for medicinal purposes, and some 80 percent of the local population in the region depends on these plants for medicines.

Wild Side

Dwarf burrowing skinks seek shelter from predators such as pygmy wolf snakes by burrowing into sandy coastal dunes. In the heat of the midday sun, the spectacular Neergaard’s sunbirds flit about in the sun searching for small insects and spiders, stopping occasionally to feed on the nectar of flowering shrubs and trees. Local Zulu people seek out the roots and the red fruits of the Umathungulu or Inhambanella henriquesii shrub as a remedy for diarrhea.

Cause for Concern

While many of the habitats within the Maputaland coastal forest mosaic are protected, most of the ecoregion faces continued threats. The dune forest habitat in particular is not well protected and faces threats from strip mining for titanium. Other major threats to the region include the conversion of natural habitat to cropland and to large tree farms that grow eucalyptus and pines for paper pulp and timber.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.