Sunday Flower Walks through the Fynbos in the beautiful Elgin Valley: Searsia

Showing posts with label Searsia. Show all posts

Monday, 17 August 2015

Starting to Move! Sunday Flower Walk

All over there are signs of activity! Not showy at this stage, you have to look carefully. Oh! That is in the veld. At the ruins of the Railway cottages it's another story, with the Narcissus at their very best!

The grasses are flowering, is this Ficinia bulbosa? :

This one's slightly yellow hue caught my eye:

A very short one:

Is this the same, with its reddish colour?

Here again is one of the Wachendorfias which had leaves growing close to the ground, pushing a bud up. The normally growing W. paniculata elsewhere show no signs of flowers yet. So it's still a mystery!

We went looking for the single broad-leafed plant we found sevral weeks ago. We were delighted to find many buds on it. We can't wait to see what it turns out to be!

Also in that area, we found the fleshy-leafed Othonna heterophylla which had been so completely eaten. It has re-grown well and again has buds on it:

So there are two reasons at least to check again next week!

There are many of these broad-leafed Daisies, looking for a name!

After the first flush of growth after the fire, these Fire Asparagus A. lignosus have set green berries and are now pushing out fresh green growth again!

This looks like an Orchid! Dominic has warned us that we'll find them in profusion from now on!

I realise I've been looking in the wrong place for the single Heeria argentea we have found in 'our patch'. What I've been looking at is the remains of a Pelargonium, which is re-growing nicely:

The Heeria is a few metres away, and yes! It's re-sprouting!

The leaves are very pale still:

The Pelargoniums seem to be thriving after the fire!

In the unburned section we found a Searsia in flower, reminding us what the others should look like!

:-) A

Sunday, 9 August 2015

First Wachendorfia Sunday Flower Walk

We spotted the first Wachendorfia paniculata today, and at the same time solved the conundrum of what the low-growing curled pleated leaves are; just that, presumably affected by the fire!

The first Wachendorfia paniculata spotted since the fire!

This is also the first non-green colour we have seen in the burned veld for a long time. I suspect it won't be long before there will be a riot of colour, judging from how they are growing in places!

Lots more to come!

We're still unsure what had caused damage to many of the new growth, sometimes older leaves which have come up since the fire. These are Agapanthus walshii. Was it frost? The leaves all look as if they have been blown from the north-west. Is it because there's little other vegetation to protect these first re-sprouters?

Agapanthus walshii, is it frost damage?

We keep thinking the Buchu Agathosma crenulata can't possibly have more flowers, yet every time it looks more covered in these delicate blooms:

Buchu Agathosma crenulata flower, the plant is covered in them!

Some of the Brunias are covered in the white baubles which are made up of many florets.

Brunia in flower

Since the fire, many of the sandstone rocks are flaking off like this:

Sandstone flaking off since the fire

The Fire Asparagus A.lignosus are less obvious, but they're still to be found, with new light-coloured growth:

Fire Asparagus A. lignosus with new growth

The Searsias are making a strong come-back. There seem to be several different types, but all with leaves in threes.

One of the Searsias, growing nicely

Three leaves:

Leaf detail

We went to the place we remember many China Flower Adenandra uniflora growing, and we're confused by what are growing prolifically there.

What are these where the China Flower Adenandra uniflora were?

Here's one up close. The leaves are evenly distributed around the stem at every node in threes or fours. What can they be?

Leaf detail

We went up to where the Pagoda flower Mimetes cucullatus was burned, to inspect the tiny plant growing near its base. The leaves are hairy and each has a single red tip.

Is this a baby Mimetes cucullatus?

Could it be a baby, and could these, about a metre away be more? We'll be back to observe soon!

Are these more?

We know what to expect when we hear a hoarse squeak, over and over from the shky! Spur Winged geese!

Four Spur Winged Geese

Last week's efforts at the culvert seem to be paying off, it's flowing clear! We haven't had heavy rain since. I suspect it will have a tendency to silt up.

The culvert is working!

:-) A

Sunday, 26 July 2015

Fungus Sunday Flower Walk

Pippa walked across the paddock next door on Friday afternoon and saw something unusual, a skull-shaped ball of netting. She touched it and found it was slimy and suspected it might be a fungus of some kind, perhaps a Clathrus.

Ileodictyon gracile fungus

I took some pictures that evening and posted them on iSpot. Tony Rebelo identified it as a Smooth Cage Fungus Ileodictyon gracile.

Detail of the fungus

Today, next to the Buchu Agathosma crenulata (in full bloom!) there was a pair of brown mushrooms.

Fungus next to the Agathosma

But walking past a burned stump, I thought someone had painted a pink/orange patch on it!

A patch of paint?

But up close, it is made up of thousands of little spheres:

Is this Lichen, or are they eggs?

Is it a Lichen as it looks at a distance, or are they eggs of some kind? We saw two more examples, one with white fluff below the pink.

Another example

The Agathosma in flower?

Agathosma crenulata in full bloom

We were well pleased to see this re-growing Campylostachys cernua. We remember it was here from before the fire. It's growing quickly!

Campylostachys cernua re-growing

The lowest and worst part of the now-unused 4x4 track has held reasonably well; we had over 60mm of rain in a short time this last week. The diagonal cut-off above it was working.