Short-term ground cover

Namaqualand flowering plants appear for a sometimes quite short season on poor, sandy soil among so many stones. Adaptation by every species to use what there is, creates a delicate ecological balance in which many factors have to be optimal for survival. 

On their own they may, however, survive the vicissitudes of nature for centuries, as so many species have clearly done. The reduction of the number of living species on earth is a phenomenon of our time, gradually escalating since the industrial revolution, the great tipping point in fortune of many species on earth.

Human intervention is usually detrimental. So, hands off where possible!