Two Flower Walks

We had a walk on Boxing Day as well as our normal Sunday walk today, covering more or less the same area, so here are the combined pictures!

Pat said the little yellow-flowered water-lilies are not invasive, they're Nymphoides indica. There are Nymphaea nouchali that we can see, but they're difficult to get to at the moment. We'll wait until the water level drops. The last of the oval leaves of the Waterblommetjies Aponogeton distachyos can still be seen.

Dog Jacuzzi and Nymphoides indica

We wondered whether the branches on the stems of the Combflowers Micranthus would  open as flowers, yes, indeed!

Combflower Micranthus

We turned left off our normal upward road along a track we know leads into a vlei, difficult to walk in when it's wet. It's all dry now and the ground cracks like walking on cardboard now! We were pleased to see this Watsonia (?) in its final stages of flowering. We'll try to get there earlier next year! This was Friday's picture, it's all over now.

Watsonia?

Close by, we came across this plant, actually just two of them, presumably also finished flowering, what can it be?

Unknown plant with spent flowers

Spent flower detail:

Spent flower detail

In this flatter country, the Purple Powder-puffs Pseudoselago serrata are really impressive! The camera doesn't do justice to the purple of the flowers.

Purple Powder-puff Pseudoselago serrata

Also in this area, missed this year must have been an impressive array of Dilatris pillansii, which we'll again make a note not to miss next year.

Several Dilatris pillansii with spent flowers

Now is the time of year for the big pink/mauve Erica bushes.

Erica

They are completely covered by a mass of small spiky flowers:

Flower detail

We went back to what we think is a large Stilbe, Campylostachys cernua, now in full flower:

Campylostachys cernua (?) in flower

The one flower on the small plant in the middle of the road is now over, but there may be more on the way, judging from how the growing tips are drooping:

Spent flower on plant in the middle of the road

We've had quite a lot of overcast weather the last few days so there have been Bobartia filiformis open:

Bobartia filiformis flower and seed pods

We're finding more and more Agapanthus walshii, some opening, some still with tightly closed buds.

Agapanthus walshii flower opening

They were listed 11 years ago as Endangered: " EN B1ab(ii,iii); C1 Known from a restricted range (35 km²) in the Elgin valley, recorded from less than five locations with continuing decline of the largest subpopulation occurring as a result of informal settlement expansion." This explains our excitement at finding more and more, and now they're exposed, flowering! There's actually a sixth bud coming up from the base of this one, we've never found more than three flowers on any plant before.

Six flowers on this one!

We checked on the seed dispersal from the large stand of what we think are Gladiolus carneus.

Gladiolus carneus (?) seed pods

Each pod has many of these paper-thin seeds with a dark centre which blow away at the slightest puff of wind:

One seed of many!

Easily overlooked are these tiny plants, are they Ericas?

Erica? 

The False Cedar Raspalia microphylla are in flower now:

False Cedar Raspalia microphylla

.... and we spotted the first flower on the Buchu Agathosma betulina! The area around this one bush in 'our' area is dotted with baby plants, you have to be careful where you stand near it. The fragrance from just touching a leaf is unforgettable!

First flower on the Buchu Agathosma betulina

We again found (and marked) this small plant with the five-pointed flowers we discovered a few weeks ago. It is past its best now, and we still haven't discovered what it is!

Unknown plant flower detail

We don't usually give Daisies a second glance, there are just so many of them, normally yellow, but here was a small area with many of these, dutifully photographed from underneath!

Unknown Daisy from below

... and from the top:

Unknown Daisy from the top

On Friday I'd spotted a Watsonia still in bud form, so we went back to find it, still closed, but in the process found several more. We're looking forward to finding out what they are.

Watsonia (?) buds

The veld is dotted with these Therianthus bracteolatus, quite advanced now with the flowers open to the top of their corkscrew flower stems:

Therianthus bracteolatus

A splash of yellow looked out of place and warranted a better look, Erica coccinea!

Erica coccinea

On the way home, I nearly trod on this little beauty:

Tiny Erica? 

Another Erica?

Flower detail

Happy New Year to everybody! :-) A

Agapanthus walshii Sunday Flower Walk

We are certainly in for a good year of Agapanthus walshii flowers; we hope the worms give them a chance to set seed!

Down on the dam on the Experimental farm next door, the water level is still quite high so it's difficult to get close to the Nymphaea nouchali, so this is a long shot:

Nymphaea nouchali

There are also patches of small yellow hairy flowers in the water:

Unknown water plant, is it invasive?

Fighting through the undergrowth to get to the edge of the dam, I came across this stand of Combflowers Micranthus:

Combflowers Micranthus

We have markers out all over 'our' patch to remind us to check on plants. One is hidden from the road behind a Brunia and we haven't checked there for a while. Today we hit paydirt!

Erica longifolia

We found it last year just after it had flowered and the spent flowers looked as if they'd been pink, but we weren't expecting this! Looking it up was easy, since John Manning has it on the front cover of his Field Guide to Fynbos, Erica longifolia which is found in several colours and bi-colours like this. The flowers are distinctly waxy. This one is growing next to a Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita. There are many more buds still to open.

Erica longifolia and Cape Snow Syncarpha vestita

The Wyrm is helping to take notes!

Pippa taking notes with the help of the Wyrm

This must surely be the last Watsonia borbonica in flower. We have spotted it before and although this stalk is short which might make it a W. rogersii, this is actually a side branch of a long stalk which has bent over. The leaves are very wide as can be seen:

Watsonia borbonica

We keep thinking the Vygies Mesembryanthemums we are seeing are the last, but there are still odd flowers out!

Vygie Mesembryanthemum

I was too quick last week to say the Therianthus had come and gone! These are on a track we call Therianthus road. Note how the buds are in a spiral.

Therianthus

Also on that road we found this delicate pink pea-type, complete with tiny pods.

Unknown pea-type

Erica pulchella. Thanks Pat for the reminder of the name!

Erica pulchella

So easily overlooked, the tiny pink flowers in the fluff of the Lanaria lanata:

Lanaria lanata flowers

It was overcast at times, but it still took a while to find an open Bobartia filiformis.

Bobartia filiformis

We were walking cross country looking for Agapanthus which we've never seen flower in this area before, naturally hoping they'd be A. walshii, when we came across another example of the bi-colour Erica longifolia.

Another Erica longifolia

We weren't disappointed when we came to what we think is Agapanthus walshii; no less than five flowers on one plant!

Agapanthus walshii

This bud is just opening:

A. walshii bud opening

We found another close by with two buds on shorter stems at this stage, we're still hoping we'll find white ones!

Two buds on this one!

We haven't noticed this bush before, it looks like a Stilbe, and it's in flower:

Stilbe, but which one?

Flower detail. The leaves are in sixes, so that would probably rule out S.ericoides, yet another possibility is S. vestita, but that is supposed to have spiky leaves.

Flower detail

We were keen to check on the plant we've been told might be a Campylostachys cernua which is growing elsewhere in the middelmannetjie of a red road. Sure enough, it's flowering too!

Campylostachys cernua in flower

This one has a tendency, after standing erect for as long as we've been watching it, to droop down as it flowers!

Tips hanging, ready to flower

Therianthus are out all over, this is what the flower looks like up close:

Therianthus flower

At first glance this looked like another Lobelia jasionoides, but these have symmetrical flowers:

Unknown plant

The pencil gives an idea of the size. The individual flowers are long trumpets and the forked stamen protrudes almost as far beyond!

Flower detail

I thought this was another, but it's completely different!

Another unknown plant in flower

We checked on the other Agapanthus Walsii with the five flowers, all's well there too!

Another Agapanthus walshii with five flowers

In the week, Pippa pointed out that what I had thought last week was a late Dilatris pillansii was very different.

Dilatris corymbosa (?) flower

This one looks more like Dilatris corymbosa. This one is past its best, but we'll watch for it next year!

Dilatris corymbosa (?) plant

Pat wrote in in the week to say that the Daisy we thought might have been Athanasia trifurcata is more likely A. Crithmifolia, which means 'with leaves like Sea Fennel' Crithmum maritimum.

Athanasia crithmifolia (?) leaves

From the garden, actually from last week, Sprekelia with two flowers this year!

Sprekelia formosissima at home

Happy Christmas to everybody and may we find and share many more beautiful flowers in the coming yyear!

:-) A

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