November | 2013 | The Fynbos Blog

Monthly Archives: November 2013

Summer

Posted on November 26, 2013 by fynbosblog Leave a comment

As spring turns into summer the intense proliferation of new flowers on the mountain is dying back and I don’t really expect to see new things as frequently. So far there has been something new on each of the 50 runs that I’ve done since I started the blog. That won’t continue when the summer sun sucks every last bit of moisture out of the ground, leaving it rock hard, dry and dusty.

Summer running has quite a different feel to winter running. The wind for a start; when it’s hot and dry the famous Cape Doctor, the southeaster, howls over the mountain, shredding all but the hardiest plants in the garden. Suddenly it is clear why so many fynbos plants have tough spikey or needlelike leaves. They need them to survive the wind and the summer drought.

We did some quick runs with no photo stops last week on a route that we run quite frequently and then on Friday morning the dogs and I decided to go for a proper blogging run to the highest point of the farm where there a shady damp road that always has something interesting to look at. When it gets hot like this we seek out the few shady groves, damp areas and streams to get a break from the relentless morning sun. Maebh as she often does, posed for the camera. Perhaps not the best ever photo of her but the colour of her coat is gorgeous in the dappled light.

Just a little further on, caught in a pool of sunlight, stood this amazing flower. Although I can’t find it in the books, the slightly twisted sword like leaves tell me it is a kind of Gladioli and if I have some time I’ll hunt through the Fynbos Bulb Encyclopedia to see if any of the descriptions match this. I love this photo, the flowerhead in a pool of light against the dark shadow of the trees.

I’m never 100% sure that I have identified this flower correctly – there are 52 fynbos subspecies in the Metalasia family and the photos in the books are not great. I’ve published photos of them before and I couldn’t resist this one with its spectacular pink flower. I believe it’s Metalasia divergens.

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A wet wet weekend

Posted on November 16, 2013 by fynbosblog Leave a comment

What better occupation on a rainy weekend than to go through all the flowers and spend some time researching those we haven’t yet identified. It’s been pouring with rain since yesterday morning, proper African rain causing floods and mayhem all over the province. Minor mayhem here on the farm as Peter and I spent an hour trying to clear the weir, him in the river working on a valve that was stuck and me and the dogs providing moral support. I can report that the new waterproofing that I applied to my raincoat works perfectly. The dogs loved it, running in the rain, offering advice and admiration to Peter as dug and cleared the pipes and valves.

So it’s a good evening to catch up with some flowers that I haven’t identified or posted.

Like this Common Button Daisy or Cotula turbinata. It’s regarded as a weed in some places, but not on our mountain where it’s welcome to take all the space it needs.

Cotula turbinata

As is this spreading Erica. I have no idea which Erica it is, it rambles along the ground and can really take over in areas it likes.

Rambling white Erica

Close up the little white flowers with their serrated edges are amazing.

Close up of the rambling white Ericaa

Somehow I don’t think I’ve posted this Scabious columbaria yet. They are very common all over the mountain and they make great garden flowers.

Scabious columbaria

This Common Butterfly Lily has the rather grand Latin name of Wachendorfia paniculata. It’s quite common and pops up in all sorts of places.

Wachendorfia paniculata

I always find blue flowers particularly attractive. So I was delighted to see these bright Purple Powerpuffs or Pseudoselago serrata close to the river.

Pseudoselago serrata

I’m not sure I’ve correctly identified this. I think it is a Relhania as the leaves generally fit the description but this is not the subspecies that is photographed in my book.

Relhania

This lovely blue flower is only about 10mm in size and it is another common, delicate flower found all over the farm. It is Lobelia pubescens.

Lobelia pubescens

I posted this shrub in the last blog, promising to identify it in the next one. It is Passerina corymbosa. It grows on disturbed ground, such as roadsides right acoss the Western and Eastern Cape. A little scruffy in appearance, and with flowers that can be either red or white. They are exquisite when photographed in close up.

Passerina corymbosa

This is a Roepera though I’m not quite sure which one as it most resembles Roepera flexuosa which is costal. Either its lost, or its a subspecies not included in my books. No doubt about the species though, the curled back yellow petals with red-brown splashes at the base and the oval leaves are all quite distinctive.

Roepera subspecies uncertain

These lovely little flowering bulbs are called Ornithogalum dubium and they have suddenly emerged on the road that leads to the waterfall. It’s particularly satisfying when we find new colonies of lovely flowers in areas where we have cleared alien vegetation, as is the case here.

Ornithogalum dubiumm

This however I can’t identify – it is tiny fragile and shortliived.

This is another flower I can’t identify, though I’m pretty sure it’s a Selago of which there are over 100 subspecies and they do grow at the top of stems covered in spiky leaves, sometimes with very pretty flowers, as here.

Selago?

Finally I’ve posted this a couple of times, unidentified. But now I suspect it is Aspalathus cephalotes, or possibly Aspalathus nigra. More likely the former as we see them in pink as well as blue.

Aspalanthes cephalotes

Too many flowers

Posted on November 14, 2013 by fynbosblog 3 comments

This is what happened. An explosion of new flowers arrived during a particularly busy time when I was doing a lot of travel. It is still the case that every single time I go out on the mountain I see something new. Which can get quite intimidating as it builds up.

It’s Thursday morning. I have my Pilates class one hour from now. I have uploaded all the photos and am going to post them all, with as many identified as possible and in no particular order.

As spring has arrived on the mountain we get huge changes in weather. One day over 30 degrees and a howling South Easter doing its best to kill off the newly planted Salvias in the garden, the next 15 degrees, pouring with rain and we reach for a warm sweater and a fire in the evenings. The moment the sun comes out it and the wind suck every little bit of moisture from the ground which becomes unrelentingly hard. When we run the dogs charge off to the water points and woe betide Peter if he has forgotten to fill the puddle at Fox Pan on the South side of the farm.

Meanwhile I keep hoping for a quieter life, but have a call tonight to discuss a client who would like us in Stockholm before the end of the year. That’ll be a break from the summer heat in Paarl!

Great spikes of Microdon dubius emerge in areas of heavy vegetation. One thing I note as I record the flowers is that some plants seem to like a bit of space around them, others prefer to grow with their friends in close proximity.

Microdon dubius

One that likes a bit of space is the Pelargonium. I always struggle with identifying these but I believe this one is probably Pelargonium capitatum. This is one of the few plants that has survived my not very green fingers and grown from cuttings to thrive in the garden.

Pelargonium capitatum

I can never resist a good picture of Seamus looking his best on his morning run.

Seamus – king of the mountain

I’ve looked in all the books and still haven’t been able to identify this blue flowering probably member of the pea family.

Unidentified pea-ish blue flowers

Helichrysum cymosum must be one of the commonest fynbos flowers of all and not less lovely for that. The farm is covered with these yellow flowers that sit on soft grey foliage.

Helichrysum cymosum

Another yellow flower, this one perched, in typical fynbos fashionb on a long spike. Should not be too hard to identify but that will wait for another day.

For the record, to be identified

This charming blue flower is common on the farm and goes by the name of Lady’s Hand because of the way the petals stand up like the fingers of a delicate hand waving.

Cyanella hyacinthoides – Lady’s hand

I know I’ve seen this one in the book, but will have to come back to give it a name. These rather scruffy shrubs thrive in a particularly dry, north facing area which here in the Southern Hemisphere eans they get the full blast of the sun. They have suddenly burst into flower. They come in pink and in white and in close up the flowers are delightful.

Name to be confirmed

There are a few more flowers to go but no time left.

To finish, last week we went for an evening run on a grey cloudy evening and no glorious sunset emerged – until, well after we were back, the hall was suddenly lit up by the most amazing pink light. I went onto the balcony and took this photo, no filters, just this amazing sunset which lasted no more than five minutes.

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Flower of the Day: Gladiolus Angustus

Posted on November 12, 2013 by fynbosblog Leave a comment

The last week has been a busy one and there are quite a few new flowers to identify and post on the blog so a longer posting is overdue. This morning’s run was quite rushed and quite hot and as the dogs and I panted over the top of the hill my eye was caught by this gorgeous gladiolus – one I’ve never spotted before. The red arrows on the lower petals make identification easy, our flower of the day: Gladiolus angustus

Gladiolus angustus

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Catching up and naming the flowers

Posted on November 5, 2013 by fynbosblog Leave a comment

Metalsia – unidentified subspecies

Real life took over blogging life for a few days and we now have a backlog of flowers to document. The first few are the ones I last posted without doing the research to identify them. Here there are at last, first, above, is the Metalsia, though I am not certain of the subspecies. This is common all over the farm and a delight to see as it has a long flowering season.

This lovely blue flowering bulb has popped up in lots of damp places. It turns out to be Aristea africana, a close relation of Aristea capitata which was recently our Flower of the Day.

Aristea africana

Polygala is a common fynbos flower and this one is either refracta or bracteolata or indeed one of the 30 other fynbos subspecies.

$Polygala refracta or bracteolata$

Polygala refracta or bracteolata

In a previous blog I incorrectly identified this as an aloe. Its not of course, it is a red hot poker, the Latin name is Kniphofia uvairia and it is a common and much loved wild flower in these mountains, though this is the first one I have seen on this farm.

Kniphofia uvaria

Finally what a delight to see that this little yellow flower, distinctive because of its four petals, is Sebea aurea, a relation of Sebea exacoides which we posted quite recently.