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This chapter comprises a vegetation analysis of Platberg, eastern Free State, South Africa (Figure 1). Platberg is an inselberg which has high botanical diversity, with associated species richness, and high numbers of endemic taxa only found at high altitudes over 2 000 m.a.s.l. indicative of montain flora. Inselbergs are one of the most striking and persistent landform types in Africa (Goudie 1996) and are defined as an isolated hill, knob, koppie or small mountain, which stands alone and rises abruptly, island-like, from the surrounding terrain (Sarthou & Villiers 1998). In the eastern Free State, South Africa, rising abruptly from the flat terrain of the Karoo sediments, are a series of more than 20 prominent inselbergs all over 2000 m high. These flat-topped, steep-sided inselbergs stretch north from the Qwa-Qwa scarp, which constitutes the northern endpoint of the Maluti-Drakensberg. Geologically, these inselbergs are an extension of the Maluti Drakensberg, and occur along a line prescribed by the Great Escarpment (King 1963) at 1800 m. They form a discrete island-like archipelago stretching over 200 km, connecting the main Lesotho-Maluti-Drakensberg with the MpumalangaDrakensberg, and the Highveld Mountains to the north. Inselbergs are formed from igneous or sedimentary rocks, capped by more resistant strata. The remnants of the resistant igneous capping form the distinct flat-topped mesas, buttes or table mountains. Platberg (Figure 2) and all the other inselbergs are the structurally controlled remnants of such weathering processes (King 1963; Moon & Dardis 1992). As prominent landscape features, geomorhologically they are formed by extensive subsurface decay along joints. The subsequently loosened material is removed by water, wind and gravity, with thawing and freezing assisting the process (Moon & Dardis 1992). The accompanying erosional detritus, rocks, boulders and gravel, form the steep slopes to the inselbergs, which are slowly buried in the rock debris (Figure 3). It is the packing of this weathered material, which provides the numerous ecological niches for the development of biodiverse plant communities characterised by inselbergs (Sarthou & Villiers 1998). The unique, high altitude conditions found above 2 000 m, lead to high levels of endemism in organisms; bryophytes, plants and animals (Hillard & Burtt 1987; Van Wyk & Smith 2001; Carbutt & Edwards 2006; Mucina & Rutherford 2006). This is due to the compression of

Biogeography of Platberg, Eastern Free State, South Africa: Links with Afromontane Regions and South African Biomes