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

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.

Repairs are holding!

I had brought a spade and we walked up and repaired the cut-offs which had silted up and let water straight down.

A bit of maintenance on the diagonal cuts

On the way up, we found this Agapanthus walshii, just two metres from the track! Close call!

Agapanthus walshii, right next to the track

The vehicles now do a detour on forestry tracks, but at the top they had driven off the road again! What for?

Wheel marks off the track!

So we packed rocks along the side of the road and alerted the organisers.

Rocks packed to show vehicles should not go off the track!

We are finding good re-growth at the bases of many of the Rhus / Searsias:

Searsia

For some reason there has been damage at the tips of the new growth, could it be frost?

Growing tips

We noticed this 'burn' on other plants, we're not sure what this is with its serrated leaves:

More damage to the new tips

This is another we have yet to identify, but it somehow doesn't look healthy with its blotched leaves.

Unknown shrub, not looking good

The one and only Pink Everlasting Phaenocoma prolifera we know from 'our' patch got badly burned, but the flowers look impressive.

Phaenocoma prolifera flowers on burned plant

Up close:

Burned Phaenocoma prolifera flower

I hope they're all packed with seeds! This Protea escaped the fire:

Protea cynaroides (?)

This one didn't!

Protea cynaroides, burned flower

We're calling this Castle Rock!

Castle Rock!

Yesterday in Viljoen's Pass at Nuweberg I stopped to look at this tall Daisy:

Unknown Daisy

As instructed, I took a picture of the back of the flower (and it shows the textured leaves):

Flower detail

Any ideas?

:-) A

After Double the Rain Sunday Flower Walk

It's not easy to find colour at this time of the year, so I went off the road to snap this Daisy!

Many of the Helichrysums have just one or two flowers open.

We were keen to see the effects of the 34mm of rain we had almost overnight during this week, just double last week's. It is interesting to see how the ash is being washed off the top of the sand and into the waterways. The rest is being blown our way by the Northwester!

We suspected that it wouldn't look good where the 4X4s went up recently in the loose sand in the burned area.

Not a pretty sight! However, I'd brought a spade and first put some more rocks in the deepest parts of the ruts (I put the one on the right hand track last week) and scooped back the sand from the road and tamped it down. Soon it was looking a lot better. This route is not being used anymore:

Then I deepened the diagonal cut further up.

Something is happening in the re-growing Restios!

... and is this a Star Grass?

This Metalasia is flowering in the very edge of the burned veld:

Up close:

The Buchu Agathosma crenulata is in full flower. There is good new growth and one of its 'babies' can be seen in the foreground.

Near the ruins of the Railway Cottages, a Black Wattle branch had broken off in the storm. Argentinian ants are swarming over the break.

Other termite activity we noticed was in the track where the 4X4s had just driven over. Interesting how quickly nature responds. The thrown-out sand granules were fresh.

Pippa spotted this Jackal Buzzard on Oliver's fence as we got back to the railway line.

That's all this week, we didn't go far, Pippa is recovering from a small knee op!

I would like to dedicate this issue to Jennetta Tilney who passed away suddenly this week. She had often written in with identifications. Our thoughts go out to her husband Barry.

:-) A