The Cape's Fynbos 

There's no question that Table Mountain makes one of the world's most impressive city backdrops and the views from the top are sensational. But for some people the most interesting aspect of the mountain is what is growing all over it. A collection of apparently unremarkable bushes and reeds, the collective name for the vegetation is fynbos and it has quite a few surprises for you.

"The Cape Floral Kingdom thus compares with some of the richest floras worldwide, surpassing many tropical forest regions in its floral diversity."

Plantzafrica.com

Firstly, it's a lot more diverse than you think. Table Mountain might only cover an area the size of the city of Oxford but it has more plant species than Sweden. Move down the mountain chain towards Cape Point at the end of the Cape Peninsula and now you have more types of plants than there are in the British Isles.

And then there's its ability of fynbos - despite its sparse appearance - to produce useful products for us: sugar, rope, thatching material, edible bulbs and perfume among many others. Indeed there are plants in fynbos that fight cancer, treat epilepsy and heal burns.

The result is greenery within days and flowers within weeks. The grow-back is astonishingly fast and within a year or two it's impossible to see there was a fire.

But there's another aspect to fynbos which is only being appreciated now, precipitated by the recent water crisis in Cape Town. Find out more in the BBC documentary here.