'''Fynbos''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|eɪ|n|b|ɒ|s}}; {{IPA-af|ˈfɛinbos|af}} meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural [[shrubland]] or [[Heath (habitat)|heathland]] vegetation located in the [[Western Cape]] and [[Eastern Cape]] provinces of [[South Africa]]. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a [[Mediterranean climate]] and rainy winters. The fynbos [[ecoregion]] is within the [[Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub]] [[biome]]. In fields related to [[biogeography]], fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of [[biodiversity]]<ref name=JManning>{{cite book | last = Manning | first = John | title = Field Guide to Fynbos | publisher = Struik Publishers | location = Cape Town | year = 2008 | isbn = 9781770072657 }}</ref> and [[endemism]],<ref>{{WWF ecoregion|id=at1202|name=Lowland fynbos and renosterveld |access-date=26 January 2010}}</ref> consisting of about 80% (8,500 fynbos) species of the [[Cape floral kingdom]], where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic.<ref name="panda.org">{{cite web|url=http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/fynbos/|title=Fynbos, South Africa|work=panda.org|access-date=15 January 2017}}</ref> This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}
==Etymology==
==Overview and history==
The word '''[[wikt:fynbos'|fynbos]]'' is often confusingly said to mean "fine bush" in [[Afrikaans]], as "''[[wikt:bos" #Afrikaans|bos]]'' means "bush". Typical fynbos foliage is [[ericoid]] rather than fine. The term, in its pre-Afrikaans, Dutch form, ''[[wikt:fynbosch|fynbosch]]'', was recorded by Noble as being in casual use in the late 19th century.<ref name= JNoble>{{cite book|last=Noble|first= John|title= Descriptive handbook of the Cape Colony: its condition and resources|publisher= Juta |year=1875|url= https://archive.org/details/descriptivehandb00nobl|website=archive.org[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In the early 20th century, [[John Bews]] referred to: "South-Western or Cape Region of Macchia or Fynbosch". He said: "In this well-known region where the rain occurs in winter and the summers are more or less dry, the dominant vegetation is of a [[sclerophyll]]ous type and there is little or no natural [[grassland]], though there are many kinds of grass..."<ref name= JBews>{{cite book|last=Bews|first= John William|title= The grasses and grasslands of South Africa |publisher= Pietermaritzburg, P. David & Sons, Ltd., Printers |year=1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/grassesgrassland00bews|website=archive.orgInternet Archive}}</ref> He also refers to a high degree of [[endemism]] in the grasses in that region. Elsewhere he speaks of the term as "...applied by the inhabitants of the Cape to any sort of small woodland growth that does not include timber trees"; in the current vernacular, this still is the effective sense of the word.<ref name=JManning/> However, in the technical, ecological sense, the constraints are more demanding. In the latter half of the 20th century, "fynbos" gained currency as the term for the "distinctive vegetation of the southwestern Cape".<ref name=JManning/>
