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