Is fynbos a heathland?

By the authors' definition all Cape Fynbos communities are heathlands sensu lat. Whether they are on sandstone or quartzite mountains, or on deep sands, laterites or limestones, to mention some of the major substrates. It also means that the Afro-alpine and Afromontane Fynbos types on the Natal Drakensberg for example, as well as the small localised patches of fynbos in Pondoland and southern Natal (e.g, Umtamvuna Nature Reserve), are heathlands. This heathland concept fits comfortably into the patterns of community distributions which have been observed over a wide range of field situations in Australia, Southern Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and Southern France, the USA and Britain.