Dilatris pillansii Sunday Flower Walk

We found this Dilatris pillansii in a place which had not been burnt, but near a burnt area. We have never seen it here before, right next to one of the 'red roads' so we would surely have seen them in the past. Maybe some of the thousands of substances which we are told are to be found in Fynbos smoke have caused them to burst into flower?

Dilatris pillansii

Flower detail (there's a strong northwester blowing):

Flower detail

Flowers up close? This is the best week for Dorothy Perkins roses! These are in our driveway:

Dorothy Perkins roses

The Salsify Tragopogon which popped up in a pot in our garden is interesting to watch. This morning, two of the flowers decided to open, just for a few hours. Late morning, they closed again, despite being in full sun. I didn't notice any bird or insect activity.

Salsify Tragopogon flower

Just these two opened today, others will choose their time!

Only two flowers were open

We'll be watching for when those two re-open as seed heads!

Back to our walk, the Prickly Pear Opuntia at the Railway cottage ruins seems set for a bumper crop of flowers and fruit!

Prickly Pear Opuntia with many buds!

Close by, I had to hold the stem of this Helichrysum foetida to hold it in the wind, and I'm regretting it, I just can't get the smell off my hands! The whole area here has a very 'dead' smell at some times of the year.

Helichrysum foetida

This little blue flower..........

Could this be a kind of Borage?

.... turns into a seed pod like this:

Spent flowers

The Ericas in the burnt areas seem to be the last to recover, but this was in an unburnt area, and it reminded us how much colour they normally give the veld. This is Many Umbrellas, E. multumbellifera, and we've never seen it flower like this before!

Many Umbrellas Erica multumbellifera

Flowers up close:

Flowers up close

It's Pea flower time of year, so it's no surprise to see Psoralea pinnata looking its best!

Psoralea pinnata

Another Pea, Bolusafra bitumenosa or Tar Pea. We found lots more, not flowering yet, though.

Tar Pea Bolusafra bitumenosa

We have really missed the flowering of the Aristea africanus, these flowers are spent.

Aristea africanus with spent flowers

Some white Helichrysums are now open!

Helichrysums, open at last!

Lobelia jasionoides seems to thrive on the barren rocky hilltops:

Lobelia jasionoides

We are now fairly sure that this is Pseudoselago spuria. Now we have the name, they have passed their prime. There are areas particularly of burnt veld where the ground is carpeted with these!

Pseudoselago spuria

While they are getting less spectacular, the purple ones Pseudoselago serrata are just starting to flower, and there are many of them too!

Pseudoselago serrata, just coming into bloom

Flower detail, Purple Powder Puff:

Purple Powder Puff Pseudoselago serrata flowers

In another place we were disappointed to find that new growth at the bases of Protea cynaroides has withered. There seem to be spots of white fungus growing on the burnt wood.

Withered re-growth at the base of yet another Protea cynaroides

Despite marking the place last week, we had difficulty finding this which we have since identified as a fern called Cockscomb or Curlygrass Schizaea pectinata:

Curlyleaf, Cockscomb fern Schizaea pectinata

We needn't have bothered searching, because on the way down we found several more examples! Here are the 'croziers' which give it one of its names!

Croziers on Schizaea pectinata

We found lost more of these spready little pink pea flowers which we haven't pinned down yet.

Unidentified pink Pea

Here is the very first Agapanthus walshii we have found to be opening. We live in hope of finding a white example, but so far they have all been blue.

First Agapanthus walshii to open!

We're going to have to wait longer for these taller ones to open!

More to come!

The Sour Figs Carpobrotus edulis were hit badly by the fire, but we're finding them all over, first a couple of fleshy leaves, then four, and more. This one is the best developed one we have found so far.

Sour Figs Carpobrotus edulis recovering nine months after the fire

This is the spent remains of the single Orchid we've been watching for months. Maybe there will be more here next year?

The remains of our single Orchid

It was early evening by the time we came down, one advantage being that the Bobartia filiformis were nicely open!

Bobartia filiformis flower

And the late sun picked this Wachendorfia's candelabra of seed pods nicely:

Wachendorfia in the late afternoon sun

:-) A

After a Gap Sunday Flower Walk

Two weekends milling Stone-ground Meal at Beaumont Wines / Compagnes Drift in Bot River as part of Elgin Open Gardens, means it's been three weeks since we had a proper Flower Walk! There were some exciting surprises in store for us! But first a few things seen in the past weeks, first a beautiful white Pelargonium, possibly P. suburbanum spp bipinnatifidum on a farm here:

Pelargonium suburbanum spp bipinnatifidum? 

In a flower pot in our garden, we suddenly found a Salsify growing, the spent flower looks more impressive than the flower itself! There are many more flowers behind, waiting to open, when they decide the time is right!

Salsify seed head

On the same farm as the Pelargonium, there are many of these pink Watsonias, possibly W. borbonica ssp ardernii:

Watsonia borbonica spp ardernii?

On the side of the road, I spotted this. Could it be a Pink Chink, a kind of Ornithogalum?

Ornithogalum? 

The whole plant looks like this:

The whole plant, on the roadside

Back to today, we were delighted to see a flower on the Gladiolus carneus we have been watching (and had marked) since the fire, now exactly nine months ago. The leaves had been nibbled off by rabbits (we saw the spoor) and on one occasion the bulbs were scratched out of the ground (we covered them up again), so we were lucky to get anything at all!

Gladiolus carneus

Last year there was a dense stand of them. We could find them after the fire because they were close to a strong bunch of Lanaria lanata. These were some of the first plants to come up after the fire and they are now more prolific than ever before! The little flowers are beginning to show in the cotton-buds:

Lanaria lanata flowers

The Wachendorfia question is still foxing us! Here are the seed pods already orange on the plants with the curved leaves growing flat on the ground. The leaves have dried up completely:

Wachendorfia, curled leaf growing on the ground, flowers gone to seed

Yet those we know as W. paniculata with the radiating leaves growing upwards, are now just starting to flower. Both are growing in areas equally burnt. These will be stunning in a couple of weeks!

Wachendorfia paniculata, just starting to flower

Flower, up close:

Wachendorfia paniculata flower

The Trachyandra divaricata have set masses of seed pods. I have read they are hardy and are useful in binding dunes. Their shoe-lace type leaves are still green below.

Trachyandra divaricata, gone to seed

These Stargrass Ficinia radiata have never been so impressive, they seem to have appreciated the fire!

Stargrass, Ficinia radiata

Flower up close:

Ficinia radiata flower

I remember finding these Daisies before, in just one place. All the others seem to be yellow only:

Unidentified Daisy

Here the flower is from behind, apparently important for identification:

Flower from the back

All on its own, this looks like a Mimetes or a Leucadendron?

Is this a Mimetes? A Leucadendron?

Three weeks ago, we were excited to find this bud on an Agapanthus walshii. It has grown about two feet since. We can't wait for it to open! The exciting thing is that we have never seen this stand of these ultra-rare plants (more can be seen in the background) before!

Agapanthus walshii with tall bud

Here close by were at least five more buds. There are never many flowers on each stem and they get eaten by caterpillars and possibly birds, so very few actually get to make seeds.

Several Agapanthus walshii buds

This Orchid made me stop and take a photo of it!

Orchid

The consensus is that this is a kind of Pseudoselago. It is to be seen all over, having recovered after the fire better than ever before!

Pseudoselago spuria?

Flower detail, Pseudosalago spuria?

Close-up off the flowers

On the subject of Pseudoselagos, these Purple Powder Puffs P. serrata are about to open.

Pseudoselago serrata, about to flower

This little pink pea has us stumped! There were quite a lot of them, here and there.

Unknown pea

This is what the flowers and leaves look like, up close:

Flower detail

We were making our way upwards to a hilltop, and came across this, growing out of the burnt remains of a Restio:

Restio? 

Many of the stems are curled and the fan-shaped flowers (?) at the ends were intriguing!

Up close

The slope up there is carpeted with Lobelia jasionoides. Again we've never seen so many!

Lobelia jasionoides

At the top we wanted to see the 'babies' around the burnt Pagoda Flower Mimetes cucullatus. They are fighting for space:

Mimetes cucullatus, growing from spread seed after the fire

Then on the way down, after months of watching, suddenly these plants with the rubbery leaves have burst into flower, giving us a clue to what they are. The closest we get is Lachenalia montana:

Lachenalia montana?

Flower detail:

Flower detail

The Bobartias are out! B. filiformis? This one is growing in a crack in the rock!

Bobartia filiformis

Flower detail:

Bobartia flower

What we were aiming for was what we thought last time was an Aristea:

Aristea bakeri?

Here is the flower up close, Aristea bakeri seems to match the description best:

Flower detail

We were very disappointed to see re-shooting under a burnt Protea cynaroides which had died off:

Re-growth on Protea cynaroides died off

On the way back I went to see where I'd found the first of the rubbery leaves. I wasn't disappointed, they were all over the place! More Lachenalia montana:

Lots more Lachenalias! 

:-) A