Sunny Winter Sunday Flower Walk

Well, it ended up sunny, anyway! But before leaving home, the Lesser Double Collared Sunbird was being shy in the Wilde Dagga, Lion's Tail, Leonotis leonurus and wouldn't let me get a good view!

Lesser double-collared Sunbird in Wilde Dagga, Leonotis leonurus

Then just below, I noticed movement! This Streepmuis, Striped Field-mouse or 'GT' Mouse was not being fooled for one moment by the plastic snake, and carried on nibbling off the poppies Pippa has planted, in vain!

Streepmuis ignoring plastic snake

We picked up the green/yellow Erica coccinea we found first and cut across country directly into the wind and found the bigger and better one quite easily. In fact it was difficult to miss!

Erica coccinea

It's still completely covered in blooms! The way the leaves grow in tufts is clearly visible in the photo below:

Erica coccinea flower detail

Hypodiscus aristatus flower

Hypodiscus aristatus flower

This looked like a pair of Hypodiscus aristatus: Anina agrees and says: 'If you look closely at the stamens you will see they are cup-shaped to hold the pollen until the wind blows.'

Hypodiscus aristatus male and female

Surprise! Still some low-growing pink Ericas around!

Pink Erica, still in flower

The Sulphur-tufts have split around the edges, making attractive stars. Some have dried up:

Sulphur Tufts

We had some difficulty finding this tiny plant, spotted last week. It's a single specimen and we've marked it now. It's right in the track of a road, but as I mentioned, felled trees have been pulled across on both sides. What could it be?

Unknown tiny plant growing from corms

An impressive Leucadendron:

Leucadendron spp

Detail of the flower/fruit:

Leucadendron flower/fruit

I turned round and was confronted by this enormous stand of Restios, easily 6 feet tall:

Large stand of Ceratocaryum argenteum

Flower detail. Again from Anina: 'Yes, very impressive. It's the male Ceratocaryum argenteum.'  

Ceratocaryum argenteum flower detail

Here's another low growing pink Erica:

Another small pink Erica

Different again, with dark red stamens:

Flower detail

We were on the way to check up on a plant we think is Amphithalea tomentosa, when we came across a number of them, quite some distance away from the one we found before! Tomentosa means felt-like or hairy, so I preume this refers to the flower:

Amphithalea tomentosa?

It's a sprawly plant, and the green doesn't quite match the other greens around. We are looking forward to how the pea-like flowers look when they come out!

Amphithalea tomentosa plant?

Nearby was what at a distance looks like a white Erica, but we know now to look close for the dark brown to black centres to the flowers. You don't notice them easily from above:

White Erica with dark centres

Also close by were some stunning female Elegia persistens:

Elegia persistens female

There was a male close by, but the strong winds we've had recently have stripped them bare!

We thought the King Proteas Protea cynaroides were over for the year; far from it!

Protea cynaroides bud

This one below is on a bush near the previous one, which we've never seen before. It's now exposed by the clearing of the pines.

Protea cynaroides 

We went to look at a pink Erica I'd found a couple of weeks ago and Pippa hadn't studied closely.

Erica plukenetii? 

It's a single specimen, growing right next to a path we've walked on a hundred times! The leaves are not growing in tufts like the E. coccinea above and the longest are almost 2cm long. Probably E. plukenetii?

This Mesemb looks as if it's been soaking up all the rain of late, the red triangular leaves were as bright as a Vygie flower itself!

Mesemb

For comparision we looked in at this old Erica which we think is E. longifolia, with its trumpet shaped flowers.

Erica longifolia? 

It never seems to stop pushing out new flowers!

Erica longifolia buds?

While checking out one of 'our' Agapanthus walshii, we noticed this, which at a distance looked like another white Erica. Not so! It looks like a Struthiola possibly S. ciliata. The Northwester was blowing strongly and it wouldn't stand still!

Struthiola ciliata? 

Turning around, I was struck by a carpet of blue! We're used to Lobelias in this area, and I thought it was yet another different kind. But then we noticed that the flowers are upside-down for a Lobelia!

Viola decumbens

Viola decumbens!

Viola decumbens flower

So that was our 'find' for the day!

Pippa's just heard the screech of a Barn Owl, so that GT Strepie had better be quick off the mark if it's out!

:-) A