Gradual regrowth, with fungus, Sunday Flower Walk

I was at Mostert's Mill in Cape Town on Saturday and spotted this amongst the roses:

Magpie Fungus Coprinopsis picacea from the top

I sent it in to iSpot and the consensus is that it is a Magpie Fungus Coprinopsis picacea.

... and from the side

Here's another type of fungus we found on the farm. Colin Ralston on iSpot (kindly!) suggests it might be a Russula

Russula (?)

Russula (?) up close

This picture shows the gills

In the unburned area, this Slangbos which I think is Stoebe plumosa / Seriphium plumosum was in flower with tufts of white fluff:

Slangbos Seriphium plumosum (?)

It looks as though the bunches of brown cones are buds which take turns to all open at the same time.

Flower detail

These Swollen Restio Beetles Pseudorupilia were at it again:  

Swollen Restio beetles Pseudorupilia

We're wondering about these Wachendorfias, with leaves growing radially, so curved and so close to the ground. Is it as a result of the fire, perhaps?  

Wachendorfias growing unusually, or are they different from W. paniculata?

Dominic has suggested that this is re-growing Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana. He says the red stems help with diagnosis. These leaves look more spear-shaped than those on the web, so I'm not too sure.

Is this Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana?

This, again, looks different. We are going to have fun identifying them all!

If so, what is this? 

It's disappointing to see these aliens growing in such profusion in the wetter spots. It's astonishing that the seeds are so prolific even so long after the introduction of biological controls! We pulled up hundreds, then gave up!

Hundreds of aliens growing in the damp spots :-( 

This had us confused, we even wondered if it was Eucalyptyus, but there was no smell from a crushed leaf.

Not sure what this is!

It was growing in a carpet of yellow Oxalis, closed because it was gloomy.

Yellow Oxalis in the still-standing but burned forest

The pods of these burned King Proteas Protea cynaroides are picture-perfect!

These seed pods of the King Protea Protea cynaroides have dispersed all their seeds

How's this for a row of Agapanthus walshii? It's as if they really needed a fire! There were perhaps 4 plants here before.

Agapanthus walshii

Still some way from home on the way back, we saw four white birds flying in to the dam on the experimental farm which is very empty at the moment. We thought they were Sacred ibis, but something didn't look quite right. Sure enough, three were Spoonbills!

A Sacred Ibis and three Spoonbills

Last week, on the bank we saw this fresh spoor; the lack of claw-marks makes it a dead ringer for the African Clawless Otter Aonyx capensis:

Spoor of African Clawless Otter

:-) A

First Winter Sunday Flower Walk

Yes! Winter is here! We watched the rain forecast all weekend before deciding to risk walking at our normal time of Sunday afternoon. And we stayed dry!

Before we were off the farm we noticed our tenant has planted a Psoralea pinnata, which is flowering well out of its 'normal' time. We saw another 'in the wild' and it certainly wasn't flowering!

Psoralea pinnata in Steen's garden

There are still many mushrooms and other fungi to be found. Whether this is a particularly good year for them, or whether we're just more observant, remains to be seen!

Unknown fungus

These brackets were growing on the full length of a fallen and rotten apple tree stem next door:

Unknown Bracket Fungus

A brightly coloured Russula sardonia:

Russula sardonia

Wouldn't eat this one in a hurry! We were actually looking for the bright red warty ones we had seen in this area before.

Unknown Fungus

Next to the railway line we came across two large patches of these Chasmanthe (aethiopica?):

Chasmanthe (aethiopica?)

... and , keeping it in the family, Arum lilies Zantedeschia aethiopica:

Arum Lilies Zantedeschia aethiopica

Could this be where the expression 'Up a Gum Tree' comes from? I wouldn't like to have to try and climb down!

Bluegum Eucalyptus spp

We decided to walk diagonally across an area which was cleared of large pines about five years ago and again of re-growth recently, to see what's coming up away from the roads. We were very pleased to find another two examples of what we now think is the pale version of Erica coccinea, on a rough North-west / South-east line (our prevailing winds) to the one we have been watching for weeks now, each about 30 metres apart.

Erica coccinea

Both had been damaged by the tree clearing, but will no doubt survive. I collected a few of the many spent flowers which had spread on the ground below one during the damage.

Erica coccinea

We were surprised to find a Tritoniopsis still flowering in this area: 

Tritoniopsis (lata?)

We're noticing more and more of what we think is Wild Almond Brabejum stellatifolium:

Brabejum stellatifolium?

Although, looking at the flower, we're now not sure!

Flower detail of above plant

On the Slangbos, Stoebe plumosa or Seriphium plumosum, the tufts of white on some of the flowers (or buds?) are quite noticeable at the moment:

Flower detail on Seriphium plumosum

The first bud of a Helichrysum in 'our' area?

Helichrysum spp bud

A magnificent Wachendorfia paniculata plant, all we now need is a flower!

Wachendorfia paniculata

There are still pink Ericas around, this one stands out with the white of a Helichrysum behind:

Erica spp

The wind was blowing this Saltera sarcocolla around so much I had to hold it to take a photo!

Saltera sarcocolla

In the week, Gay mentioned how impressive the mosses are in her garden now. I said we would look out for them.

Moss

Walking back through the forest, we found plenty more fungi, Slippery Jack:

Slippery Jack Suillus luteus

Not sure yet what this one is, with rain caught in its cup:

Unknown fungus

This was on a pine stump:

Fungus on pine stump

Close by, on another:

Fungus on pine stump

And another!

Fungus on pine stump

All this within a couple of kilometres walking from our back door! :-) A