4X4 Route in the Burned Veld? Sunday Flower Walk

In some areas even individuals walking as we do in the recently-burned veld stand a chance of heavy fines. One has to wonder at the wisdom of allowing a 4X4 route straight up a hill in the burned area we have been monitoring. Nobody thought to consult with us, who know the area intimately, about the location of critically endangered plants, when the route was laid out.

4X4 track straight up the hill

One can only imagine the erosion these tracks will lead to when the serious rains come! As it is, it's a small miracle that this track missed the largest stand we have so far found, of the critically endangered Agapanthus walshii by five metres. It misses a burned Leucospermum oleifolium by less than that. Other plants were less fortunate.

Crushed Everlasting?

Another crushed plant

We have been taught that plants react to fire by either re-sprouting or re-seeding. We have been observing the Protea cynaroides, and we know where to find them. We're delighted to find what we think are seedlings coming up in their vicinity now!

We are hoping these are Protea seedlings

More of the same

Encouraged by what we were finding, I went back to look at one large example we know of on what we call Protea Peak.

Protea cynaroides, sprouting at the base?

What's that at the base? Here it is up close.

Close-up of growth in the picture above

Could that be re-sprouting?

Our favourite Buchu Agathosma crenulata is now in full flower!

Buchu Agathosma crenulata in full flower

We were attracted to a splash of orange from far away (there isn't much colour apart from green in the veld!) and came to this fungus which might be examples of Sulphur (or Brick?) Tufts Hypholoma sp.

Could these be Sulphur or Brick Tufts Hypholoma spp ?

Here's what the stems and gills look like:

Stem and gill detail

Re-sprouting Rhus / Searsia, with distinct ribs in the leaves, which are in threes:

Rhus or Searsia

Here's a new one.....

What is this?

Stem detail:

Up close

The Sour Figs Carbobrotus edulis seemed to suffer badly in the fire. This is the very first example we've found since.

Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis, the first we've found since the fire

We're still watching these with curved leaves and Wachendorfia-type pleated leaves!

Could this be a Wachendorfia?

It took some searching to find this which we think is Othonna heterophylla, being so eaten-away. I notice now there's one bud towards the top of the plant in the picture.

Othonna heterophylla

We'r still foxed by this plant, one day it will surprise us with a flower, I hope we catch it in bloom!

What is this?

In some areas there are many of these, any guesses what they might be?

Gladiolus? 

One more picture of the 4X4 route, should it be allowed here?

Crushed plant and 4X4 route sign

Last week I showed a picture of a pair of Malachite Sunbirds. Imagine my surprise, walking out of the Auto Electricians to find a pair of Black Sunbirds feeding on the Chasmanthes! They are not common here! Him......

.... and her!

:-) A

Yellow Sunday Flower Walk

There's not much colour in the veld at the moment, but what there is, is predominantly yellow.

As usual, a bug in a Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis flower.

Sour Fig Carpobrotus edulis

The yellow daisies are beginning to come out, this one we think is a Euryops, because the description of the plant is that the leaves are fern-like. There are a hundred to choose from and we haven't pinpointed this one yet!

Euryops spp? 

But they're on rations, only one flower per plant at this stage!

Euryops spp? plant with single flower

There are carpets of yellow Oxalis, strange we only saw a few of the pink ones.

Yellow Oxalis

Then our greeny-yellow Erica coccinea:

Erica coccinea

Even the mushrooms were yellow! These are probably Sulphur Tufts Hypholoma fasciculare, not for eating!

Sulphur Tufts Hypholoma fasciculare? 

Here is a plant with yellow flowers we've seen before but not identified yet:

Unknown fynbos plant with yellow flowers

The daisy-type flowers mostly have three petals, but I found them with two and four. The anthers seem to have two rings, opposite one another near the ends.

Flower detail of plant above

Restios again, here's pop & mom Elegia persistens. Is that baby in the foreground?

Elegia persistens, male left, and female right

Anina explained this phenomenon on the restios, where there is non-reed sterile foliage at the base to assist the photosynthesis, particularly after a fire.

Sterile foliage at the base of a Restio

We don't know this bush, which has foliage (but not the smell) like a cedrus:

Unknown shrub

Flower detail, what is it?

Flower detail of above shrub

It was good to see these fruits on an Erica:

Fruits on Erica

We went up to where the felling has being going on, to check on our 'charges'. We had to pull more pine branches off this Mountain Dahlia Liparia splendens, which will probably flourish now. It has some Agapanthus growing beneath it, but we're not sure which type. We've never seen them flower, maybe they will now in the sunlight?

Mountain Dahlia Liparia splendens

'Our' Leucospermum oleifolium hasn't fared well since we last checked. It took some finding under felled trees, some branches are broken and dead.

Leucospermum oleifolium damaged by felling

After pulling some logs and branches off, things loked a bit better. Let's hope it survives, we've been watching it since we discovered it about three years ago!

Leucospermum oleifolium exposed again

We found the ring of stones we packed around the Fire Lily Cyrtanthus ventricosa we spotted last year. No problem there!

Ring of stones around Fire Lily Cyrthanthus ventricosa

There are some interesting rock formations visible now with the pines gone!

Interesting rock formation

We were delighted to spot yet another Mountain Dahlia Liparia splendens in the lee of a rocky outcrop. Most have finished flowering, but this is completely covered in blooms!

Mountain Dahlia Liparia splendens in full flower

Mountain Dahlia Liparia splendens flower

Next to it, a delicate Lobelia:

Lobelia spp flower

Looking glossy in the sunlight was this Saltera sarcocolla:

Saltera sarcocolla flower

More yellow Daisies, this one is a pest on the farm.

Daisy 

We had a good look for 'our' single Campylostachys cernua, kindly identified by Lee Burman. We couldn't find any others nearby, nor on our walk at all, now we're 'tuned in' to it. This is growing right on the middelmannetjie of one of the 'red' roads. 

Campylostachys cernua in the middle of the road

We missed it flowering, but it's pleasing to see the new growth:

New growth on Campylostachys cernua

Also all along the road, in the middle, are these Lobelia tomentosa which were a welcome contrast to the yellow of most of the other flowers!

Lobelia tomentosa

:-) A

PS. If you've missed any of our walks, they're all on http://sundayflowerwalks.blogspot.com/

Between the Rains Sunday Flower Walk

With 90mm in the gauge from two days last week and 40 more promised starting this evening, it seemed sensible to have our walk on Sunday morning. As it was, it wasn't fun battling into the North-wester, but at least the sun was out. From 'our' hillside, we could watch the clouds flying past the Kogelberg to our South-west at an alarming rate!

But before leaving home, I was treated to a Lesser (?) Double-collared Sunbird working through the Wilde Dagga Leonotis leonurus (at the full extent of the zoom of my little camera!):

Lesser Double-collared Sunbird on Leonotis leonurus

Lesser Double-collared Sunbird on Leonotis leonurus

We paid a visit to what we now think is an Erica coccinea in its greeny yellow form:

Erica coccinea

For some reason we decided to carry on across country from it, directly into the oncoming wind. We have found two more on a line directly to the South-east of this one, so maybe we'd get lucky and find something on the opposite side? We weren't disappointed! A beautiful specimen, simply covered in flowers!

Erica coccinea

Erica coccinea

On the way, we found another Erica, unfortunately past its best; tall, but definitely not the same:

Erica spp (longifolia?)

The flowers must have been red and the longer leaves grow evenly along the stem, rather than in tufts like the E. coccinea. Also the flowers have nothing protruding from them, anthers, or whatever. Possibly an E. longifolia?

Close by stands is this magnificent Restio:

Possibly Restio paniculatus (previously Calopsis paniculata)

Nothing would stand still in the wind, here's detail of the flowers.

Restio (paniculatus?)flower

The pink Ericas aren't finished yet!

Erica spp

Here's more of what we think is Brabejum stellatifolium, but here are two different plants, or is it M & F?

Brabejum stellatifoluim? 

There are no flowers on the bush on the left, the leaves are bigger and perhaps paler.

Those with flowers, not looking anything like what is shown for the Wild Almond, and the leaves are not serrated enough:

Flower detail

... and those without:

Leaf detail of non-flowering bush

So what are they? Those growing best have their feet in running streams, like this one!

Exactly 20 metres away (so we know where to find them in future!) we found this tuft of what looks suspiciously like Agapanthus walshii! We haven't found them here before.....

Agapanthus (walshii?)

and a stone's throw away, a lot more!

Agapanthus (walshii?)

They look well established, they're in full sun, and we'll be watching them! There was no sign of any spent flowers or dried stems. Again in line with the wind, yet another:

Agapanthus (walshii?)

They might look like 'ordinary' A. africanus, but they are much smaller, and we've got to know the 'look' of them!

More Restios, here looking like two different kinds:

Male and Female of Hypodiscus aristatus

Here are the intricate flowers of the one on the left:

Male Hypodiscus aristatus

There are still plenty of fungi around. The clip of the dog lead gives an idea of how small these are. Possibly Sulphur Tufts Hypholoma fasciculare?

Sulphur Tufts Hypholoma fasciculare? 

More Restios:

Female Elegia persistens

Flower detail:

Flower detail of Female Elegia persistens

And another! This one almost looked as though it had been cut off at some time.

Male Elegia persistens 

Pippa sat down and noticed several of these plants around her, not looking like anything we've noticed before. The leaves are in pairs and alternate, what I call North, South, East, West.

Unknown fynbos plant

By luck, there were a few flowers:

Flower detail of above plant

... and some looking as if they might flower:

Growth-tips of above plant

What are they? We were sent feedback on a plant we saw two weeks ago, via Anina Lee, kindly supplied by Lee Burman, both of Hermanus BotSoc, of this:

Campylostachys cernua spotted two weeks ago

From Anina: Lee Burman from Hermanus BotSoc suggests it looks like Campylostachys cernua (Stilbaceae). It certainly looks like this image below from the web. Unfortunately we didn't notice it flowering, probably from the middle of January onwards. But both pictures show the leaves, not N, S, E, W, as the plant noticed today, but about six to the circle, looking end on.

Campylostachys cernua from the web

Many thanks for that feedback, Lee and Anina!

Just to show the pink Ericas haven't finished, could these still be E. pulchella with the dark-coloured bracts?

Erica (pulchella?)

Here and there Oxalis add a splash of colour to the veld, either in mauve:

Oxalis

..... or in yellow. These only opened past noon!

Oxalis

And now it's raining! And the forecast now says 43mm! Keep warm and dry! :-) A