Ceiba speciosa Sunday Flower Walk

Actually it was on Friday, our May Day holiday, that I saw the Ceibas (formerly Chorisia) and had driven past them before I realised what I'd been past! There is a row of these spiny-barked Silk Floss Ceiba speciosa trees next to the gate of the farm Le Chasseur on a back road near Robertson.

Flowers of Silk Floss Tree Ceiba speciosa with single or combined stamen

The flowers are difficult to miss! It seems the row is a collection, because there is a pale one too.

Pale version, also with single stamen

The single stamens on all of these flowers differ from those on the tree here in the Village outside Grabouw Auto Electrical, which have five individual stamens.

Multiple stamens here in Grabouw

The story behind these trees in South Africa began with a pillow brought from South America stuffed with the floss from the seed pods of this plant. A lump was found which turned out to be a seed. It was planted and it flourished!

The Bolivian Legend of the Toborochi Tree (Chorisia speciosa) goes like this: When the world was still very new, the Aña, or spirits of the darkness, liked to abuse and murder humans. Then they found out that Araverá, the beautiful daughter of cacique Ururuti, who had married the Hummingbird god Colibri, was pregnant and would give birth to a son who would punish them, so they decided to kill her. With the help of a flying seat her husband had given to her, Araverá fled from the village, but the evil spirits followed her and harassed her wherever they found her hiding. Tired, she decided to hide in the trunk of a Toborochi tree where she gave birth to her son in peace.The boy grew up and fulfilled the prophecy, avenging his mother, who had to stay inside the tree until she died. Forever buried in the amphora-shaped trunk of a Toborochi, Araverá likes to come outside in the shape of a beautiful flower that attracts hummingbirds, that way, she keeps contact with her husband.

The tree in Grabouw

There seems to be no agreement over the single and multiple stamens and the general comment is that they have hybridised over the years and may well have before being imported.

At least that gives some colour to the 'walk' which was decidedly lacking in it, except for green which gets more every week. We had a little rain this last week which must have helped.

We checked the Gladiolus carneus we tracked down two weeks ago and were disappointed to see some animal had dug up some of the bulbs. We put them back and covered them and we'll hope for the best.

We think these are Gladiolus carneus, dug up by an animal

The yellow Oxalis give a bit of colour here and there.....

Yellow Oxalis

..... as do the pink ones, although it was overcast and they were closing.

Pink Oxalis

Anina told us to look out for the branched and frilly sterile culms which will come up first out of the burned remains of the Restios. These are beginning to appear, but with them (and them only), we spotted insects.

The iSpot experts agree these are Swollen Restio Beetles Pseudorupilia, but which one? 

More on the way?

I have put a request for identification on iSpot.

More Restio beetles

This Wachendorfia is looking spectacular, the one behind it seems to have been eaten off. There are many rabbit tracks.

Wachendorfia, probably W. paniculata

Not sure what this is, but it's growing nicely out of a burned stump!

Unknown bush re-growing

This one I do recognise as a Brachylaena neriifolia.

Brachylaena neriifolia re-growing

We reported on this stand of Agapanthus, presumably the rare A. walshii in an area where we had not found them before. My count went past 50 individual plants!

More than 50 Agapanthus probably A. walshii in one place

When we did see colour, it stood out! This Tritoniopsis lata would have been difficult to miss!

Tritoniopsis lata

The Pelargoniums are coming back strongly, we know where they were best before.

Pelargonium

Outside the railway cottage ruins is a stump with impressive Cinnabar Brackets Pycnoporus sanguineus.

Cinnabar Brackets Pycnoporus sanguineus

Also there, it's difficult to go past the Prickly Pear Opuntia and not look at the flowers!

Prickly Pear Opuntia flower

Back on the farm this Daisy begged to be photographed:

Unknown Daisy flower

From the side:

Same Daisy from the side

.... and the leaves. Which one is it?

Whole plant including leaves, what is it?

Also at home was this Bolete (?):

Is this a Bolete? 

From underneath, still to be identified.

From underneath

:-) A

Mostly Green Sunday Flower Walk

Although the burned veld looks grey from a distance, now after seven weeks, the colour is returning, although it's mostly green leaves. Here and there a splash of colour is visible from a distance, like this Tritoniopsis, in a crack in the rock which escaped the worst of the fire, Possibly T. antholyza. It looks as if we're in for a good showing of them in the next few weeks, judging from the leaves coming up.

Tritoniopsis in a crack in the rocks

Jennetta wrote in for more details of the Buchu Agathosma we have been watching. We have assumed it's A. betulina, but she's wondering whether it could be A. crelulata ?

Agathosma, but betulina or crenulata?

Some of the guide books don't show the leaves, which apparently distinguish them. Here is a close-up of them. Comments, please! However, there's no mistaking the Buchu aroma! We are also watching its babies growing all around it, getting bigger by the year!

Leaf detail of the Agathosma

The re-growth of the Lanaria lanata has reached about 400mm in most places, and the leaves are beginning to hang down. Here the tips are describing arcs in the bare sand.

Lanaria lanata leaves making arcs in the sand

One would expect a shrub like this to be very dead after suffering a 'hot' fire like this, but Fynbos is resilient! Not sure yet what this is:

Re-growth from the base of a burned shrub

We went to see the large Leucospermum oleifolium we found just before the fire.

Burned Leucospermum oleifolium plant

Close inspection of the spent flowers shows there might be life in the seeds yet!

Detail of the seeds in the burned spent flower. Is there life?

Here, a Liparia splendens which was burned, is shooting from its base:

Liparia splendens with re-growth at base

..... and another, we remember that's what was growing here, formerly within the forest, now it'll be in full sun. This one was totally burned-off:

Liparia splendens re-growth where it was completely burned off

Amazingly, there are still a few seeds to distribute from this Protea cynaroides!

Still a few seeds on the Protea cynaroides

Palmiet, recovering:

Palmiet

Pink Oxalis are to be seen here and there, and more to come, judging from the clover-lile leaves to be seen all over.

Oxalis

The Fire Asparagus, Asparagus lignosus isn't growing as fast as it did in the first few weeks, but it makes a pretty plant with its little white flowers (and sharp thorns!).

Recovering Agapanthus walshii:

We counted 24 flowers on these Agapanthus walshii before the fire

Had we not packed rocks around this plant, the two bicycles might well have ridden right over them! Can't they stick to the tracks?

Two bicycles narrowly missed this rare Agapanthus walshii plant

Back in the Village, outside Grabouw Auto Electrical, the Silk Floss Tree Ceiba speciosa (formerly Chorisia speciosa). For some reason only a high branch is flowering this year.

Silk Floss Tree Ceiba speciosa in flower in the Village

Apparently the seeds were imported in the stuffing of a pillow from South America many years ago and planted in Rondebosch, and grew! Related to the Baobab and Kapok Tree, I read. You only lean on this trunk once!

Sharp spines on the Silk Floss Tree trunk!

Last weekend I visited the Eastern Freestate, where one comes across different plants. Here on the farm, a field of Cosmos, which is much darker than the roadside specimens, is the result of selective breeding:

Deep pink Cosmos as far as you can see!

More Cosmos!

Every day we went out on a Military Vehicle convoy near the Lesotho border....

Very different terrain in the Eastern Freestate!

and on the stops, we were able to observe what was growing next to the track:

Unknown flower on the side of the track

Any guesses?

This is what the plant looks like

Another, there were several more unfamiliar plants:

Glossy leaves and a tall flower head

Shiny leaves above and spent flowers below:

Spent flowers on the head

:-) A