Just Oxalis for Colour Sunday Flower Walk

There's lots of green in the burned area, especially if you look against the sun, but for the rest, there are Oxalis in yellow (luteola?) in plenty:

Oxalis luteola

..... and pink:

Pink Oxalis

Pippa has a sore leg so we walked a reasonable distance and when we found something interesting, she sat down and drew it while I fossicked around.

Pippa drawing, with company!

We have seen this before, but not with its visitor!

Caterpillar and plant we're watching!

I had just seen another:

Another caterpillar

On the way up, we found that the Gladiolus carneus (?) leaves have been chomped off, yet again!

Gladiolus carneus, eaten off again!

We've had over 40mm of rain in a day in this last week so it was interesting to see the erosion we've been expecting:

Erosion from 40+mm rain in a day

More erosion

I had difficulty finding the Daisy we found in flower last week, mainly because it had also been chewed off. I placed photos of it on iSpot and the consensus is that it's Othonna heterophylla.

Othonna heterophylla

I was particularly interested to check the underside of the leaves, which are glossy. The leaves themselves are quite fleshy.

Underside of leaf

I found one more a short distance away with two buds on.

Bud on another plant close by

The leaves are not as toothed as on the other plant, but apparently leaf shape on this species is very variable.

Leaf detail on the other plant

I found another unfamiliar Daisy; one flower has gone to seed already.

Unfamiliar Daisy buds and spent flower

Only now reviewing the photo, I notice the Ladybird!

Whole plant and Ladybird

Here's another of the little plants we haven't tracked down yet, with the ribbed leaves. This was in a completely different location.

What is this?

.... and as usual, plenty of these with the Wachendorfia-type leaves.....

One day we'll get a flower and we'll have the answer!

..... but growing very differently compared with those we know well, W. paniculata:

We know what flower to expect from this! 

During the week Pippa has found come interesting fungi on the farm. I put a picture of this Earth Star on iSpot and the experts are happy it's Geastrum pectinatum:

Earth Star Geastrum pectinatum

..... but there have been no comments on this one yet:

Unknown Fungus

This morning there was a persistent peep-peep from the top of the lightning-struck pine:

Who is this? 

Any ideas?

:-) A

After the first Big Rain Sunday Flower Walk

There was more than 80mm in the gauge for this week, so we were interested to see how much erosion might have taken place. In fact, it wasn't bad.

But in the un-burned area, I always stop and look at the Buchu Agathosma crenulata. The tiny flowers are beautiful and difficult to photograph with my little camera. There are many seedlings coming up around it, so I'm very careful where I tread!

Buchu Agathosma crenulata flower

The Gladiolus carneus I have marked with logs have been chewed off short. There are rabbit tracks around, I hope they will flourish like they did last year!

Gladiolus carneus (we think!)

What little colour there is at the moment is supplied by Oxalis. Mostly yellow where we walked today.

Yellow Oxalis

The rain doesn't seem to have washed much sand down, but certainly there's a lot of ash in the run-offs on the road.

Ash being washed down, but little sand

We're still intrigued by the different leaves on the Wachendorfias. These growing flat on the ground make amazing patterns!

Why is this Wachendorfia growing like this? 

These are the familiar ones, Wachendorfia paniculata:

This is the Wachendorfia paniculata we know

There really is a lot of green in places! These are Lanaria lanata and bulbs; we're still hoping that some are Tritoniopsis.

Lots of green! Lanaria lanata and bulbs

Might this be Rhus/Searsia coming up, with ribbed leaves in threes?

What is this?

Interesting to see Ladybirds again; we know where they breed, we must go and look!

Ladybird

Agapanthus walshii, recovering well!

Agapanthus walshii, growing well! 

We think these are Five-toothed Baboon Cabbage Othonna quinquedentata. The notches on the leaves are easy to pick out. This one has started to grow upwards.

Five toothed Baboon Cabbage Othonna quinquedentata

We were particularly looking for these tiny plants:

What is this tiny plant?

From the side:

From the side

We've marked them, and we'll go back and see what they turn into! Any ideas?

Just then, Jane came riding by on her Appaloosa on the edge of the burned veld ......

Jane on her Appaloosa

On the way back in the orchard, we nearly walked into this! Ever wondered why our tractor drivers attach a vertical wire like a radio aerial to the front of their tractors?

Spider and web

Instead walked along the next row and found this little Ink Cap:

Ink Cap

And that, Dear Readers, is our 100th Flower Walk! :-) A

Two shillings and sixpence Sunday Flower Walk

Yes, that's what Pippa found, lying on the ground exposed by the fire!

Pippa found two shillings and sixpence!

1953 and 1959! Our pocket money in '59 was a shilling a week and you could buy three pink Star sweets or two Wilsons toffees for a penny! If they could only tell a story!

She also noticed a tortoise helplessly stuck between the two railway lines, picked it up carefully, knowing it would 'wet itself' and put it down a short distance away. We looked later and it was nowhere to be found.

Rescued tortoise from between the railway lines

We seem to have agreement on iSpot that 'our' Buchu Agathosma isn't A. betulina as I thought, but A. crenulata. Its 'babies' are doing well.

Baby Buchu's Agathosma crenulata

I noticed a pink hue to the flowers for the first time, but couldn't get the camera to focus on them.

Agathosma crenulata flower

We were happy to see what we think is Gladiolus carneus re-growing nicely. There has been no rain for a couple of weeks.

We think this is recovering Gladiolus carneus

This looks like a Wachendorfia with its pleated leaves.

Wachendorfia, possibly W. paniculata

We keep finding Fire Asparagus Asparagus lignosus:

Fire Asparagus Asparagus lignosus between the rocks

Pelargoniums are recovering well, sometimes straight out of the ground, sometimes at the base of a burned bush.

Pelargonium

Here is what is probably a Watsonia schlechteri which has escaped the worst of the fire. The leaves with the single rib in the middle help identify many more coming up elsewhere.

Watsonia schlechteri

.... but these leaves are much broader. It will be exciting finding out what each one is!

A wider leaf?

In the 'gully' we were attracted to a splash of bright green, probably Lanaria lanata. What is interesting is the way it seems to have shed the burned ends of the leaves.

Lanaria lanata (?), with burned leaf-ends shed

We were disturbed during our walk by a motor bike zooming around, not staying on the tracks, making its own tracks straight up and down hills in the burned veld. The worry is that these tracks might lead to erosion when the rains come. In two places the bike nearly rode over precious Agapanthus walshii plants.

Motor bike tracks, close to Agapanthus walshii plants

I filmed the activity and reported it: https://youtu.be/2afLkbSM-PU and https://youtu.be/zEFNg1o2Z8Q and http://youtu.be/RACJ3B20gTU

:-(

:-( A

Agapanthus walshii Recovery Sunday Flower Walk

Certainly, the re-emergence of Agapanthus walshii plants was the highlight of our walk. No chance of flowers for a long time yet, but it was good to see those we know of coming back strongly. In one place where we knew they were and can't find them, we're still hoping they'll come up again. Yet in another where we didn't know they were, close to a road we use often, we found a stand over several square metres and it was easy to count to 33 individual plants!

No less than 33 Agapanthus walshii plants in this small area!

In another place where we knew of one or two, there was a whole row. Considering their rarity, this is all good news and interesting to see that they seem to have benefited from the fire which was now about eight weeks ago. Their status in 2004 was described thus: '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.'

A whole row of Agapanthus walshii where there was one or two

Elsewhere, sprouting at the base of shrubs was pleasing, like this fairly large Brachylaena neriifolia:

Sprouting from the base of a Brachylaena neriifolia

This Fire Asparagus Asparagus lignosus seems to be past its best now, with lower branches dying back. The ground underneath is strewn with spent flowers or seeds.

Fire Asparagus Asparagus lignosus, past its best

Another one is less far advanced, with flowers still out:

A younger Asparagus lignosus

The flowers are tiny and delicate:

Asparagus lignosus flowers, leaves and thorns!

This Palmiet is recovering nicely:

Palmiet, recovering

We're waiting to see what will happen to this Pagoda Flower Mimetes cucullatus; nothing yet!

Mimetes cucullatus, nothing happening yet

This is what the burned flower looks like:

Mimetes cucullatus, burned flower

Again, there was very little colour, a splash of yellow here and there from this Oxalis (luteola?):

Yellow Oxalis (luteola?)

.... and pink from these:

Pink Oxalis (hirta?)

Also pink, this Tritoniopsis (lata?) which was the only one we spied!

Our only Tritoniopsis (lata?) sighting today

It was interesting to see a bare flower stem growing from one hole and a single leaf from another!

This is how it was growing

Flower detail:

With the long upper tepal, is this Tritoniopsis lata? 

Growing in the middle of the road, we're amazed always that this Campylostachys cernua survives. Burned, but spared the worst of the fire, it's shooting from the base:

Campylostachys cernua, in the middle of the road, burned, but recovering!

But it was very pleasing to find what we think is another one, growing about 10 metres away, safely away from the road:

Another one, a short distance away?

Using our markers, mostly stones packed on the side of the road, we are able to trace where we remember plants were growing before the fire. In this case, Dilatris pillansii, recovering well.

Recovering Dilatris pillansii

Working from another stone marker, and in relation to a Lanaria lanata which has recovered well, we were delighted to find this which we're pretty sure is the big stand of Gladiolus carneus we found. It was right at the edge of the fire and seems to be coming up again strongly:

Gladiolus carneus coming up again? 

We have marked it with sticks along with the Lanaria lanata:

Marked with sticks

:-) A