The study area, the Sperrgebiet, comprises the majority of Namibia's portion of the succulent karoo biome which is the south-west corner of the country. This is an arid area that has been off limits to public access, farming and tourism for nearly a century due to restrictions imposed by the diamond industry. The Sperrgebiet's endemic flora is special in taxonomic composition in that it does not present a subset of the total flora of this area, but shows a remarkably high representation of the families Mesembryanthemaceae and Liliaceae (sensu lato). Compared with other arid areas, the level of endemism in the Sperrgebiet is high, but not compared with the succulent karoo in general or other hotspots in the succulent karoo biome, such as the Richtersveld.