Illustration by Alyssa Nassner Stroll off the beaten track of a mountainside or valley vineyard in the Western Cape winelands of South Africa and step into wild, straggly vegetation of every shape and size. Brushing through these bushes releases many scents: heady dried herbs, wildflowers, pungent spice and more. This is fynbos, the Afrikaans word meaning fine-leaved plants. Fynbos is composed of around 8,500 species from several key families—Restionaceae, Proteaceae, Ericaceae, Rutaceae and Iridaceae—many endemic to and part of the Cape Floristic Region, or the Cape Floral Kingdom. UNESCO added the Cape Floral Region to its World Heritage List in 2004, citing it as one of the world’s greatest centers of terrestrial biodiversity.