Sunday 13 September 2015

Spring Flowers and a Film Shoot :-( Sunday Flower Walk

It's officially Spring by the date, and Nature thinks so too! There is a carpet next door in the orchard of what we think is Arctotheca  acaulis:

A carpet of Arctotheca acaulis

In the road, Romulea rosea:

Romulea rosea

Oxalis among little Daisies

Oxalis and Daisies

Romulea hirsuta var. cuprea:

Romulea hirsuta var cuprea

Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis :

Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis

Drosera, also in the road!

Drosera

Here is a large Restio re-growing after the fire with its feathery culms and some of the thick stems starting to come out of the ground.

Restio re-growing

We were keen to check up on the flower with the striped bud we had found. What a surprise!

Spiloxene capensis?

The stripes are still on the back of the petals:

Reverse of the petals

And once we had seen this one open, there were more! These two were growing up inside a bunch of Agapanthus walshii!

More, growing amongst Agapanthus walshii

Up close, each petal has a heart-shaped dot in the middle. Are they Spiloxene capensis?:

There petals have heart-shaped dots at the base

This Wachendorfia with the sickle-shaped leaves had the most impressive candelabra of flowers!

Magnificent Wachendorfia

The Lanaria lanata are pushing up flowers all over!

Buds on Lanaria lanata, all over the place!

Can this be a Metalasia? We will be back to check!

Metalasia?

Bud detail:

This is what the bud looks like

There was a strong Northerly wind, making it very difficult to photograph little flowers!

What is this? 

Can it be a Geissorhiza? A Romulea flava?

This is how the plant grows

'Our' Satyr Orchid is now in full flower:

Satyr Orchid

Flower detail:

Orchid flower up close

We checked on the Othonna heterophylla but it had been eaten again. We remembered finding another nearby, that was much more photogenic!

Othonna heterophylla

One flower had even gone to seed:

Spent flower of Othonna heterophylla

More of these which have us stumped!

What are these? 

A splash of pale pink caught my eye, next to a big rock.

Gladiolus hirsutus?

A Gladiolus hirsutus? This is how it's growing, flattened by the wind!

This is how it's growing, blown flat by the wind!

Flower detail from the side:

Flowers and buds, from the side

At the top we were astonished to find a huge area of recently burned veld completely denuded by a film-shoot!

Burned veld completely denuded by a film crew!

It's incredible that this can happen without an Environmental Assessment! Somewhere there was our single Erica longifolia we have been watching for years.... gone! I went across to where the only Phaenocoma prolifera in the whole area we monitor was..... gone too, and the area raked clear! Does money buy anything?

Everything raked away!

They even left 'props' behind:

Props left behind

Pippa reckoned we needed to check a rocky south-easterly facing slope, her hunch paid off!

Moraea ochroleuca?

Moraea ochroleuca? There were many of them, and more to come! They grow at least half a metre tall.

Flowers from the side

Re-growing from cracks in rocks, now in flower Teedia (or Oftia?)

Oftia or Teedia

Heeria argentea, re-growing nicely from the base!

Heeria argentea, re-growing

Then a white Spiloxene (if that's what it is!)

White Spiloxene?

.... with the same striped petals underneath.

The same striped reverse of the petals

The whole plant

I've said before the Pelargoniums benefited from the fire. This one's on steroids!

Pelargonium on steroids!

:-) A





1 comment:

  1. Suddenly beautiful then disaster, surely that should never happen in our 'civilised' world, there is enough destruction in the Middle East and places without this.

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