The Cape Floral Region Protected Areas is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a group of about thirteen protected areas that together cover an area of over a million hectares. This is a hotspot of diversity of endemic plants, many of which are threatened, and demonstrates ongoing ecological and evolutionary processes. This region occupies less than 0.5% of the area of the African continent yet has almost 20% of its plant species, almost 70% of the 9,000 plant species being endemic to the region. The Fynbos vegetation consists mainly of sclerophyllous shrubland. Of special interest is the pollination biology of the plants, many of which rely on ants, termites, birds or mammals for this function, the adaptions they have made to the fire risk, and the high level of adaptive radiation and speciation. The Mediterranean climate produces hot, dry summers, and many of the plants have underground storage organs allowing them to resprout after fires. A typical species is the silver tree, which grows naturally only on Table Mountain. Fire kills many of the trees but triggers the germination of the seeds, founding the next generation of these short-lived trees.