EARTH LAUGHS IN FLOWERS

Mary Maytham Kidd and a bit of botanical literary history

2012-02-10T15:04:00.009+02:00

Flora of the Cape Peninsula edited by R.S. Adamson and T.M. Salter, published by Jutas in 1950, is the bible of botanical books on the flora of the Cape Peninsula - the first book to provide identifications of all the species of plants that were known to occur on the Cape Peninsula. I was browsing around in a second hand bookshop in Lower Main Road, Observatory and found a copy of it, for R200, which I immediately bought. What made this book special for me was the dedication inside - a visiting card ("Mrs H. J. Kidd, Diocesan College, Rondebosch, At Home, 1st and 3rd Thursday) had been stuck in and signed "With best wishes from Nettie Maytham and Mary Kidd". Mary Kidd is Mary Maytham who had married Hubert Kidd, the headmaster of Bishops (Diocesan College, Rondebosch), who, it is rumoured, was told that they would really prefer headmasters to be married, and luckily, the vivacious and intelligent Mary was more than happy to oblige. My sons were at Bishops, in Kidd House (pronounced by the boys as "Kiddowse"), so I feel I have a link with this lady, however tenuous.
There is another link too - through my old school, Roedean in Johannesburg. Mary Maytham was a Roedean old girl who came to Simonstown to visit her old headmistresses and vice-principal, the formidable trio: Miss Lawrence, Miss Earl and Miss Scott, who had retired there and were all passionate about botany. It was these three ladies who suggested that Mary, a talented artist, should illustrate a book on the flowers of the Cape Peninsula which is just what she did. By 1943 she had the plates all ready and painted, and identified by the staff of the Bolus Herbarium at the University of Cape Town. But who would write the text?
The Second World War and Mary and Hubert Kidd's marriage put things on hold for the next few years, and it so happened that during this time, Adamson and Salter were finalizing their book Flora of the Cape Peninsula (a taxonomic, scientific tome with not an illustration in sight!). Captain Salter kindly sent Mary a typescript of their book on which she based her descriptions of the flowers she had painted. And Mary's book remains a classic to this day, even though the text has been updated by Terry Trinder Smith and the plates re-organized into families, not as in the original, on the time of year of flowering.
I still use her old book, with the new one, Wild flowers of the Table Mountain National Park, as the basis of all my identifications of the flora of the Cape Peninsula, with Adamson and Salter as a back-up for problem plants.

Tabularis times two

2012-01-11T13:23:00.005+02:00

Seen on a hike up Devils Peak today:
Eulophia tabularis. Not endemic, but first seen on Table Mt. It occurs from the Biedouw Valley all the way to the Eastern Cape.
Watsonia tabularis - a true endemic - with Robben Island in the distance. The Table Mountain Watsonia is only found on Table Mountain. Colours can vary from orange, to apricot to cream. The trick of identification is to look at the leaves and the bracts. The leaves of W. tabularis are sheathed up the stem, and these sheaths are inflated and often filled with water. Looking back towards False Bay.
A rather pale form of Watsonia tabularis - the Table Mountain Watsonia.NOT anything tabularis but an interesting shot (unplanned) of a species of Dilatris or Bloodroot with Lion's Head in the background. It is probably Dilatris corymbosa as I saw a few stamens sticking out above the petals.

Don't let this happen SANParks!

2012-01-10T11:16:00.005+02:00

Yesterday Capetonians were outraged when news broke of a proposed R54 million office block to be built along Chapmans Peak Drive in the Table Mountain National Park to house a bunch of road-toll officials from the "Entilini" Concession outfit with large egos - and an eye on future high rent tenants, who knows. And guess who will be financing most of it? Us, the tax-payers! It is absolutely outrageous! My first thoughts on reading the article by Melanie Gosling in the Cape Times was "Is it April Fool's Day?" The office block will impinge on the integrity of our national park and seriously undermine the integrity of SANParks.(SANParks, go and read your mission statement on your website to remind yourself what you are all about!) It will be the beginning of the end of the war against the attrition of our beleaguered natural areas and I really, really hope that it will never happen. For heavens sake, aren't there enough ugly offices in Hout Bay already for the Entilini entourage - and just how many offices do they need? Its not like its a very long road! Something smells rather fishy ... and its not the kelp on the beach either.
Join the protest march on Sunday 22 January at 10 am, which will be starting at both ends of Chapmans Peak Drive.

The December 2011 issue of Veld & Flora

2011-12-01T08:21:00.002+02:00

It's the 1 December and the December issue of Veld & Flora is officially out.
The lead article is all about Kirstenbosch, one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, by bulb expert, Graham Duncan. Other articles include a look at the Mountain Pride butterfly by Andre Claassens, how to distinguish between some of the Cape Peninsula's blue daisies, the impressive Sneeuberg Centre of Plant Endemism of the Great Escarpment and Gavin Maneveldt asks "Should we include marine kelp forests in our definition of forests as they meet just about all of the criteria for forests as laid down by IUCN?"
Our Learning about Biodiversity centrespread focuses on South African Forests. These pages are specifically compiled with the FET section (Grades 10-12) of the South African school syllabus in mind.
Phakamani Xaba introduces another African plant that is easily cultivated - the African Potato and Errol Moeng urges muthi plant collectors to go the cultivation route in order to preserve some of Limpopo's dwindling wild plants.
There is also an article on the Dendrological Society, news from the BotSoc and CREW and some letters that provide entertaining and thought-provoking reading.

To join the Botanical Society, and receive four issue of Veld & Flora each year, click here.
If reading online is your choice, Veld & Flora is available for sale through Sabinet.

Carrion orchid

2011-12-01T07:50:00.000+02:00

Timotheüs van der Niet, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, recently published an article in the Annals of Botany on the orchid Satyrium pumilum, a small rather rare orchid that occurs from Namaqualand to Riversdale. Like many orchids, it does not produce pollen or nectar and lures insects to it by means of smell - in this case the smell of rotting meat, which proves irristible to carrion flies.
More.
Photo: Dennis Hansen.

iSpot with my little camera ...

2011-11-25T14:38:00.000+02:00

iSpot southern Africa is a funtastic website and a way of sharing and identifying the biodiversity around us. SANBI hopes that the site will become the premier Citizen Science portal for southern Africa, providing photographic, distributional and biogeographic data on all taxa, with species lists, surveys and atlas opportunities: a one-stop-shop for recording and exchanging biodiversity information.
Post your pictures; request identifications or information; run formal and informal courses on taxonomy and identification; browse the virtual museum of information; or the verification hubs for surveys, atlassing and backyard biodiversity projects; use it as a tool for biodiversity education and as an opportunity to increase your identification skills and reputation in those groups that interest you.
The site is now fully operational.
ISpot is one of a suite of applications by which SANBI is making biodiversity information available to the public - for more see http://www.sanbi.org.za/.

A true pioneer

2011-10-15T10:22:00.001+02:00

Walking in the Constantia Greenbelt today, I came across this flowering Gonnabos (Passerina corymbosa). It is an interesting wind-pollinated, pioneer species that is dealt with in some detail on the Plantzafrica website.
A close-up reveals the tiny open flower with eight pollen-laden stamens. Shake the branch and a cloud of pollen puffs off the plant.
More pollen-laden stamens.
The young stems are white and hairy.
The Gonnabos's ability to extract soil moisture from deep underground enables it to survive harsh conditions and its root system is excellent for stabilizing sandy soil.

Iridaceae and a walk on Rondebosch Common with John Manning

2011-09-29T16:13:00.000+02:00

Today I attended a talk on how to identify various members of the family Iridaceae by John Manning, Senior Specialist Scientist at the Compton Herbarium, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch. The lecture was organized by Ismail Ebrahim, manager of the Cape section of the the dynamic and successful Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) programme of SANBI's Threatened Species Programme. The lecture, in true John Manning style, was superb and I will now have to buy John's latest book The Iris Family: Natural History and Classification. (Have a quick e-preview of it here.) John is extremely knowledgeable as well as a talented artist and photographer as his many books attest to. In his introduction to John before the lecture, Ismail mentioned that it is always to a book with John's name in the list of authors that ones inevitably turns when needing information on South Africa's wildflowers. (My all time favourite book is Southern African Wild Flowers: Jewels of the Veld by John Manning and Colin Paterson-Jones, a simply wonderful introduction to our indigenous wildflower heritage.)
The lecture was followed by a guided walk on Rondebosch Common, one of our precious remnants of Sand Plain Fynbos and lowlands renosterveld.
There were lots of Sparaxis bulbifera - and this photo shows the style dividing into three branches as well as a characteristic of all Sparaxis plants: the dry papery or crinkly bract that is irregularly fringed and streaked with brown.
The small Moraea fugacissima - its fringed stigma just showing.
Trachyandra hispida - a low growing member of the Aloe family (Asphodelaceae) with membranous sheaths around the base of the stem.
The newly created parking place on the Common.
Hairy caterpillar.
Albuca juncifolia (back from its little sojourn in Ornithogalum). A member of the Hyacinth family (Hyacinthaceae).
John Manning.
Romulea rosea - very common on the Common.
Romulea obscura - not so common. Apparently its all in the shape of the corms as to which species belongs to which.
Felicia heterophylla - the True Blue Daisy - with visitors.
The hairiness of this little Sunflax is the clue to its identity: Heliophila africana. Devil's Peak in the background. I am always amazed at what one sees on Rondebosch Common - whenever one goes there, there is something new flowering. This is just a selection of what we saw.

Dictionary of names for southern African trees

2011-09-10T14:41:00.000+02:00

In a recent letter to Veld & Flora about common names, the existence of this book was mentioned by Hugh Glen. I was looking forward to getting a copy of it for myself but reading about it on the SANBI website, I see that it will set me back almost R1000. I wonder if they will have an e-version of it.

This is what was on the SANBI site:
Dictionary of names for southern African trees released
On 1 September, Briza Publications, in association with SANBI celebrated Arbor Week with the launch of the Dictionary of names for southern African trees at an event at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden. The launch event included a tree planting ceremony where invited learners from the community received the 2011 Trees of the Year posters.

The dictionary – which was ten years in the making – provides readers with names of 2 100 trees, selected shrubs and woody climbers native to southern Africa in up to 30 languages. Over 24 000 common names are included, making this the most comprehensive list of southern African indigenous tree names published in a single volume. The book is authored by Braam van Wyk, Erika van den Berg, Meg Coates Palgrave and Marie Jordaan.

Background information about the languages is presented, including guidelines on their structure and sounds, to assist with pronunciation. There is also a map showing where they are mainly spoken, and exquisite line drawings for selected species are provided.

As the distinguished publisher of nature-related publications for 21 years, Briza is extremely proud of this particular publication and sees Dictionary of names for southern African trees, as a proud symbol of its 21 years.

The Dictionary of names for Southern African trees retails for R950. A limited 500 copies have been printed, and will be available from Briza and the Bookshop at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden as of 1 September, 2011.

Calling all flower twitchers

2011-09-09T15:42:00.003+02:00

The Flora Documentation Programme is a photographic record of indigenous flora currently occurring on the Cape Peninsula. It began in 1982 when Deon Kesting, retired professor of Librarianship at the University of Cape Town, started documenting and photographing the plants of the Cape Peninsula. Like many before and after, he was bitten by the bug that compels one to identify and document this extraordinary flora. But things went further after he donated his albums to the Friends of Silvermine Nature Area in 1996, and enlisted the help of a specially created sub-committee of the Friends which is still going strong today. Digital photos soon followed, and then someone took on the mammoth task of organizing all the data into a database which you, for a very small fee, can purchase and download and use. It is an amazing tour-de-force and since I downloaded it, hardly a day has gone by when I haven’t consulted it – for ‘work’ or just for fun. Historical and contemporary botanical records and descriptions accompany the plants and most of them have photos attached. If you follow the directions properly, it downloads easily and you will have the most amazing resource at your fingertips. There is a contact email if you experience problems or have any queries (or feel compelled to join the Friends of Silvermine Nature Area).
I congratulate the Friends of Silvermine Nature Area (and the Merrys in particular) for producing this wonderful resource, and really appreciate their generosity in sharing their accumulated knowledge.
You can order it directly from bmerry@iafrica.com or from the Botanical Society Bookshop at Kirstenbosch.

Restio update

2011-09-09T15:17:00.000+02:00

Last month we were treated to some amazing lectures by eminent botanists in celebration of the Bolus Herbarium's centenary of being housed at the University of Cape Town. One of the lecturers was Dr H. Peter Linder of the University of Zurich's Institute of Systematic Botany who introduced the audience to some interesting research he was doing on the root systems of species in the Restionaceae family which has thrown new light on the evolution and origins of the restios or Cape Reeds and indeed, the whole fynbos. He was co-author of a book by Els Dorrat-Haaksma on this interesting family which is one of the characteristic elements in the fynbos. The book needs to be updated, and the authors are looking for funding in order to make this possible. If you know of anyone who could help, please contact Els at 021 788 9038 or email her at restios2@gmail.com.

Forest Day

2011-09-08T11:46:00.000+02:00

Forest Day, now moving into its fifth year, takes place annually to coincide with the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties. It is organized to keep world leaders, researchers, donors, policy-makers, climate change negotiators, media, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples' groups and other forest-dependent people up to date about the current research and thinking on the world's forests. This year, COP 17 is being held in Durban, and Forest Day will be held there too. It is also the IUCN International Day of the Forest this year.

Click here for more information on Forest Day.
In the next issue of Veld & Flora, due out in late November, several articles will be devoted to forests (both on the planet and in the ocean) and putting them into context in the southern hemisphere as most of the current research on forests and biodiversity focuses on the northern hemisphere.

Discovering the Sneeuberg

2011-09-06T10:19:00.000+02:00

Moraea spathulata is abundant throughout the Sneeuberg. Photo: Vincent Clark.

In the December 2006 issue of Veld & Flora there was an article by Ralph Clark and Nigel Barker (Rhodes Univerisity) on the fabulous flora of the Sneeuberg in the Eastern Cape. (Click here for pages 202-203 and here for pages 204-205). They have finished the project, published the article in the South African Journal of Botany and will follow-up in the December 2011 issue of Veld & Flora with a few final comments and statistics in which it is fairly obvious that this area is indeed worthy of the name The Sneeuberg Centre of Endemism.

Free entry to all national parks next week

2011-09-05T11:55:00.000+02:00

In the SPRING issue of Veld & Flora

2011-08-31T07:09:00.000+02:00

The BotSoc Annual Report 2010-2011
News of a Skeppies project: The Okiep Kraalbos Soap Project Making biodiversity fun: news from the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW)
The Free State National Botanical Garden: a garden of extremes
Elephant-shrew pollinators in the Cederberg
The secretive Sebaea has a surprising survival technique
Spinning Gold – the Orbweb Spiders
A new species of tree, the Tugela Bushwillow discovered in KwaZulu-Natal
Pollination fact sheet and poster for matric scholars
More about life on the farm in the southern Cape with organic farmer, Sally Adam.
The Peninsula Skolly: Cape Town’s only endemic butterfly that has an unusual living arrangement with Pugnacious Ants.
Conservation beyond boundaries: Biodiversity Stewardship in the City of Cape Town.
Gardening with Traditionally Useful Plants The Calabash Gourd.
Meet Table Mountain’s wildflower man, Bruce Mackenzie, as well as some of the people who make BotSoc one of the most vibrant and successful non-governmental organizations in South Africa like the indomitable Stella Petersen.
Read about some of the activities taking place in BotSoc’s varied branches around the country.
Interesting reader’s letters including a discussion on common names for South Africa’s trees.
Reviews of new books and a fantastic new cd from the Friends of the Silvermine Nature Area that includes photos and information on just about every plant you might encounter on the wondrously florally diverse Cape Peninsula.

To subscribe to the Botanical Society, or for more information, click here.

Cape West Coast Trails

2011-08-25T12:00:00.000+02:00

The Cape West Coast Biosphere project is one of the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) partners in Mamre and other areas of the West Coast. They are launching a new exciting tourism venture and it is a great opportunity to experience the wonderful West Coast in a very different way. The trails goes through some of the key CREW focus areas and CREW would like to support this initiative. One of their very own Mamre tour-guides has also been appointed as one of the guides for this project.
Click here to visit their website
Click here to download their brochure,
Or visit http://www.capebiosphere.co.za/.

Waterwise gardening talk

2011-08-19T12:08:00.000+02:00

Create a beautiful waterwise garden on Cape Town’s sandy soils
The Friends of Meadowridge Common recently held a talk by Alice Notten, Chief Interpretive Officer at Kirstenbosch, on gardening with waterwise plants for flat, sandy gardens. Alice Notten is a botanist and a horticulturist at Kirstenbosch, specializing in fynbos gardening. You can read a summary of her talk on how to create a beautiful yet waterwise, indigenous and environmentally friendly garden on Cape Town’s more difficult sandy soils on the website of the Friends of Meadowridge Common. Sandy, infertile soils are a feature of most of Cape Town suburbs, especially in parts of Constantia, Meadowridge, Bergvliet and Plumstead. With water restrictions looming, this is a particularly relevant topic at the moment.
Go to http://meadowridgecommon.blogspot.com/.

The devil's own ericas

2011-08-18T18:14:00.000+02:00

Walking up on the Saddle between Devil's Peak and Table Mountain yesterday there was a profusion of dark pink ericas that were unfamiliar to me. Looking them up later I see that they are the Devil's Peak Red Erica, Erica abietina subsp. diabolis. In amongst them were some red, more "normal" Erica abietina flowers - probably Erica abietina subsp. abietina.

The Porcupine Lady

2011-08-02T09:07:00.001+02:00

I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Porcupine Lady's website.
Go to http://www.porcupinequest.com/

"In the furthest most corner of the Franschhoek valley lies a small magical vineyard. Here, the winemakers couldn’t help but notice that they regularly received visitors to their farm in the dead of the night.

Known for being somewhat left of conventional, the winemakers decided to honour these creatures, and so not only did they name a heavenly wine brand after them, but they decided to found The Porcupine Quest too.

Established to honour the Cape Porcupine, the Porcupine Quest aims to understand more about this animal and its role in promoting biodiversity in the Cape. As such Boekenhoutskloof is helping to fund a study by Christy Bragg, a PhD student at the University of Cape Town. Her four-year project on porcupines specifically investigates the effect that porcupine foraging has on different Cape ecosystems, like at Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape and in the Kalahari Desert as well as in Franschhoek."

And now they want to **** up Verlorenvlei!

2011-08-02T08:18:00.000+02:00

I was just reading the latest WESSA newsletter and I see this disturbing article:

Shocking development: Prospecting rights granted at Verlorenvlei
The 1 July decision by the Department of Mineral Resources to grant Bongani Minerals prospecting rights in the Mouton’s Hoek Valley could have dire consequences for all in the Verlorenvlei catchment. Situated in the West Coast District Municipality and feeding into the sea at Elands Bay, the extensive estuarine wetland system of Verlorenvlei is registered as a Ramsar site and an Important Bird Area yet is afforded little environmental protection.

The Verlorenvlei Coalition and WESSA are shocked at this decision and will continue to resist this process. This is a rich agricultural area and many farmers and their labourers will be displaced should mining go ahead. Mining in Mouton’s Hoek is a serious threat to precious water resources (the valley provides 60% of the ecologically-sensitive vlei’s water), tourism and biodiversity.

WESSA has been working with the Verloerenvlei Coalition since its inception in 2008 and are now actively pursuing options for a more proactive approach to land-use management in the area.

To read more, and to join the Verlorenvlei Coalition - a group of over 1550 individuals and 48 organizations opposing the proposed mining operation – visit www.verlorenvlei.co.za.

Read Farieda Khan's article on this most magical of places in the December 2010 issue of Veld & Flora, vol 96(4) pp182-183.

The Red List online

2011-08-02T07:26:00.001+02:00

The 2009 Red List of South African Plants was published in April 2010. Over a year has passed since this publication was produced and the status of many plant species has changed. SANBI’s Threatened Species Programme has therefore just produced the first online version of the plant Red List. This website contains all information associated with the species assessments included in the 2009 Red List of South African Plants. In addition, this new version also includes additional information on 3 604 species, 1 075 assessments have been updated, 3 283 photos have been added, and we have included distribution maps for 7 228 species. 79 newly described species have been added to the Red List, and the status of 219 species has been updated. To access information on the conservation status of South Africa’s plants please visit http://redlist.sanbi.org/.
In addition to the actual assessments for each species, the site also includes a section which summarizes the status of South Africa’s plants (see tabs at the top of the website) including statistics of how many threatened species are found in each province and each biome, the major threats, etc. A section with recommendation for EIA practitioners is also included.
It is possible to search the site for anything, e.g. a specific area like Pondoland, or a threat from rooibos tea plantings, etc.
As the Red List is used extensively for EIA assessment work, it is important that updated vrsions of it are released. The site will not be updated on an on-going basis but every six months. Use of data available on the current website needs to be cited as Red List of South African Plants version 2011.1 Please follow the citation recommendation at the base of each species record and website page.
You will note that many species (65%) do not have distribution map information available but this is due to SANBI’s PRECIS database including at least one or more erroneous distribution records for these species. We will strive to do quality checks on these data over the next few years and the number of maps available will increase with each update of the website. The 7 228 distribution maps that have been included have been checked and against published distribution data and can be relied upon.
As you use this website you will probably note that the Threatened Species Programme is not aware of specific population information that you as a field botanist may have. Please could you make use of the function comment on this assessment at the base of each record to send us information we may not be aware of. Lastly if you have photos of species that we do not yet have photos for please could you email these to l.vonstaden@sanbi.org.za and we will add them for the next release of the website.Quiver Tree (Aloe dichotoma). Status: Vulnerable. (A species is Vulnerable when the best available evidence indicates that it meets at least one of the five IUCN criteria for Vulnerable, indicating that the species is facing a high risk of extinction. )The Halfmens (Pachypodium namaquanum). Status: Least Concern. (A species is Least Concern when it has been evaluated against the IUCN criteria and does not qualify for any of the above categories. Species classified as Least Concern are considered at low risk of extinction. Widespread and abundant species are typically classified in this category.)

Impressions of Eden: beginnings

2011-06-20T14:30:00.000+02:00

Eden is where we began. Archaeologists have unearthed worked beads, engraved ochre and bone tools that place anatomically modern humans with a sense of self awareness, in the Eastern Cape about 160 000 years ago - long before the cave artists of Lascaux in France were painting their caves with horses 35 000 years ago. (Previously believed to be the first evidence for "modern" human behaviour.) The theory goes that prevailing ice-age conditions resulted in the disappearance of humans everywhere except on Eden's fertile and diverse coast where small bands of them were able to exploit marine and plant life and not only survive, but flourish and re-populate the world with their newly acquired, less specialised way of life.
Having read Shirley Pierce and Richard Cowling's wonderful book East of the Cape: Conserving Eden in which they mention the Kap River Nature Reserve (pages 10 and 144) near the Great Fish River, I was keen to visit it when we had a few days of timeshare holiday in Port Alfred - the heart of the Eastern Cape's unique thicket vegetation. Sadly, a flooding Kap River had ravaged the roads in the reserve in early June, and judging by the roads around, road repair is not the Ndlambe Municipality's strong point. The reserve is shut and is likely to remain so for a while yet. We paid a visit to the Great Fish Point Lighthouse (closed because it was a public holiday and we hadn't phoned ahead) and then drove down a little side road next to the Fort D'Acre Nature Reserve along the edge of the Great Fish River mouth - a strange place indeed with its rabbit warren of holiday shacks in the dunes.Back home in Port Alfred, we found lots of these large and impressive Green Wood Orchids (Bonatea speciosa) growing around our chalet in the coastal dunes.

Oxalis Day

2011-06-20T11:26:00.000+02:00

While I was away in the Eastern Cape I received an email from Ismail Ebrahim of CREW.
"On 16 June 2011 (aka Youth Day) we will be instituting a new botanical public holiday. We shall call it Oxalis Day!" he wrote.
"The Oxalidaceae family is a fascinating one. There are approximately 900 species worldwide and Oxalis is the biggest genus. There is an amazing diversity of form and colour in the family and they are often seen as colourful displays in the veld. There are about 109 species listed as Species of Conservation Concern in the Red List of Southern Africa. Of these 109 species there are 8 listed as Critically Endangered possibly extinct. This is a very high number for one genus and it will be the main focus of the Oxalis Day field trips. For these species to be listed as extinct we have to look for them intensively before we can be sure. More importantly we will be going out to re-discover these species and ensure that they do not become extinct.
"The first Oxalis Day outing was to Morreesburg, Piketberg, Porterville, De tuin just north of Saron, Tulbagh and Malmesbury."
I look forward to hearing about the trip and in the meantime did my own Oxalis Day hunting in the Waters Meeting Nature Reserve near Port Alfred and Bathhurst. Unfortunately I was not very successful in identifying them, but this one might be Oxalis caprina
and this one was very similar but has white spattering on the leaves and the flower was much pinker. Maybe Oxalis semiloba?

New look BotSoc website

2011-06-08T15:36:00.000+02:00

BotSoc's new website is up and running.

Botanical artists - take note

2011-06-08T09:58:00.000+02:00

The curator of the In Bloom Exhibition, Margie Murgatroyd of Africa Nova, invites artists to submit botanical art for inclusion in this year’s exhibition. The exhibition will take place at Casa Labia in early December 2011. Please submit work for possible inclusion by the end of September. You may send photographs/scans of work you would like to submit for consideration. All work submitted should be un-framed and, if it is chosen for inclusion, will be framed in consultation with the curator. Artists should name their price. Africa Nova add a 40% commission to the artists price, and framing costs are added on top of that.
The In Bloom exhibition was a great success last year and there was a wonderful variety of work all of which had a floral theme. As well as paintings, there was sculpture (Nick Bladen’s work), copperplate etching (Jane Eppel), ceramics, photography, installation works and a variety of mixed media. It is quite a long running exhibition; it starts in December and runs through to February.
If you are interested, please contact Lindsay Rossetti of BAASA at rossetti@lantic.net.

South Africa at Chelsea 2011

2011-06-04T13:49:00.000+02:00

Well at least we got our gold again at the Chelsea Flower Show in London last month. I missed the launch of the 2011 entry at Kirstenbosch this year as no-one bothered to send me an invitation so unfortunately there is nothing about it in Veld & Flora.
However, the model of the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI’s) 2011 Kirstenbosch–SA Chelsea entry entitled “Botanical Landscapes” and featuring two World Heritage sites: the Cape Floral Kingdom (with Table Mountain as a backdrop) and the Richtersveld (shown above) is on show at the Kirstenbosch Visitors Centre.
There very nearly was no entry this year due to lack of funds, but luckily for us, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the SA Gold Coin Exchange stepped in at the last minute and provided valuable sponsorship to enable the team to go to London in search of gold.
The exhibit will be re-created later in the year in Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town.

David Davidson - one of the co-designers of the exhibit - will be talking about the show at Kirstenbosch at 10h30 on 25 June. More info.

See more views of the exhibit here.

In the June issue - Deaths Head Hawk

2011-04-18T07:16:00.000+02:00

Andre Claassens looks at two more common hawk moths that spend time in our gardens. One of them is the Deaths Head Hawk (Acherontia atropos) which, although it made a few appearances in The silence of the lambs, is not quite as bad as it sounds . . .
Read it here or in the June 2011 issue of Veld & Flora.
Photo: J. Joannou.

Come to the Party

2011-04-15T11:51:00.001+02:00

COP is the acronym for the United Nation’s Conference of Parties on climate change. This annual United Nations conference is where world leaders meet to assess progress in dealing with climate change and negotiate obligations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The last conference – COP 16 – was held in Mexico and the seventeenth United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17) will take place in Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
COP- 17 is seen as a crucially important conference, as it is thought that we are at a point now where humanity has a last opportunity to prevent runaway climate change. Government leaders need to write an international law that will force countries to curb their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions now before climate change escalates out of our control. Everyone must take a stand against climate change as it affects all of us, our country and our planet.

Don’t let it be a COP-out! Teachers, involve your class in the issue and find out how your school can play a part in influencing opinion. Visit the CAP website and the Durban host website as a start.

Melville Koppies Nature Reserve

2011-04-06T13:32:00.001+02:00

Since reading an article by Wendy Carstens on Melville Koppies in the December issue of Veld & Flora (from where this photo of Sharon Dlamini admiring a Wild Pear tree by Wendy Carstens is taken) I have been keen to visit this fascinating place. Melville Koppies is a Nature Reserve and a Johannesburg City Heritage Site. It is the last conserved remnant of Johannesburg’s ridges as they were before the discovery of gold in 1886 and its geology goes back three billion years. Stone tools show evidence that humans in the Early Stone Age camped here 500 000 years ago, as well as evidence of Late Stone Age and Iron Age activities. The vegetation of the Koppies is entirely indigenous and is a remarkable example of the richness of Highveld grasses, flowers and trees so close to a city centre. They have fantastic organized walks and an impressive education programme - especially so because everything is funded entirely by donations.

If you live in Jozi - pay them a visit. And if you don't, pay their impressive website a visit instead.

Books and cds you can order Peter R. Johnson compiled a booklet Flowering Times on the Melville Koppies. This is a guide to what one can expect to find in flower in any month of the year on Melville Koppies. The flowers of each month are colour-coded with page references to Field guide to the Wild Flowers of the Highveld by Braam van Wyk and Sasa Malan. Wendy Carstens has put together PowerPoint presentations on CD of The Flowers of Melville Koppies (which has nearly 200 photos, many of them taken by Maria Cabaco who spent hours exploring the Koppies with her camera), as well as of Trees and Shrubs, Geology, and An Overview of Melville Koppies. Funds from sales (CDs at R50 each, booklet at R30, plus R20 postage) are used for the maintenance of Melville Koppies by the Friend's volunteer Management Committee. Contact fomk@km.org.za for orders.

Read their article in Veld & Flora.

Marasmodes Day

2011-04-04T11:50:00.000+02:00

Did you know that Freedom Day, 27 April, is also Marasmodes Day?

Marasmodes is a small genus in the Daisy family that consists of only 13 species. Marasmodes Day was declared by Ismail Ebrahim, Project Manager of CREW*, in the September 2009 issue of Veld & Flora to highlight the plight of many of our plant species that are rapidly becoming extinct due to human despoilment of the planet.

Read the article in Veld & Flora.

*CREW are the Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers. Visit their website here.

The illustration above shows Marasmodes fasciculata with a tiny Anthomyia fly pollinator. Photo: I. Ebrahim.

Why is Table Mountain's flora unique?

2011-03-31T10:27:00.000+02:00

In the latest issue of Veld & Flora (March 2011) Alice Notten's reply to Ronnie Glass's letter sums up why the fynbos is so interesting.

The letter asked the question: Fynbos is said to have the most plant species and cover the smallest area, yet they say the tropical rainforests have more species. What am I misinterpreting regarding our fynbos?

Alice Notten, the Chief nterpretive Officer at Kirstenbosch, replied:

I think the confusion arises from the way it is measured and compared. The figures that John Manning gives in his book Field Guide to Fynbos are species per 1000 km², calculated by dividing the total number of species by the surface area covered by that vegetation type. He says that the entire Cape Floristic Region (that includes fynbos, renosterveld and succulent Karoo) averages 94 unique species per 1000 km². The similar heathland communities of California and south-western Australia average 14 and 12 unique species respectively.

Southern Africa as a whole averages out at 8 unique species per 1000 km². Taking just the fynbos areas within the Cape flora, he gives an average of 150 to 170 unique species per 1000 km². Using this method fynbos figures are two or three times that measured for tropical rainforests (this figure for rainforests is not given in his book). So fynbos has a high number of species packed into a tiny area.

The other way of measuring is to measure out a quadrant and count the number of species found in that quadrant. On this scale the rainforests come out on top. Tropical rainforests range between 130 and 190 species, fynbos has 65, Renosterveld has 85 and California heathlands have 30.

Why then does fynbos show diversity but not remarkable diversity on the local richness scale yet enormous diversity for the vegetation as a whole?

Fynbos diversity does not lie in the number of species found at any particular site, it lies in the proportion of species shared between sites, i.e. fynbos has an exceptionally high number of highly localized species – species that are restricted to a single small area. If you look at the species lists for quadrants only kilometres apart, between half and two thirds of the species will be different for fynbos whereas in the rainforest the same species are scattered widely over a large area. Thus you will find more species per square kilometre in a rainforest than you will in fynbos, but if you move to another square kilometre, the fynbos species will have changed whereas those for the rainforest will remain much the same, so in total fynbos counts up more species over the whole area it covers than rainforests.

The photograph is by Alice Notten and shows proteas and ericas on Table Mountain.

Sies!

2011-03-29T09:49:00.000+02:00

A good South African word that describes the indescribable stench at Big Bay. Come on City of Cape Town. Are you waiting for an outbreak of some dread virus or bacteria before something is done? This photo comes from Monday's Cape Times reporting all too briefly on the protest by concerned citizens over the sewage spillages. The beach is no longer a Blue Flag beach but no-one seems unduly concerned. My nieces and nephews - surfers and lifesavers - hate competing at events at Big Bay because of its stench and slime. My feeling is that there are simply too many new developments taking place with no proper environmental planning taking place.

Frack-off Shell

2011-03-24T14:30:00.000+02:00

I read a very lucid description of "fracking" (hydraulic fracturing) and it seems that we should be very concerned about allowing our intellectually blessed and money-grabbing politicians to award concessions to Shell or any other oil and gas company to frack anywhere in our country. Read it on http://www.liveeco.co.za/?m=2&idkey=1723.
I noticed that Zapiro's latest cartoon also exhorts Shell to go and get fracked.

Paint the mountain red

2011-03-10T15:12:00.000+02:00

Flowering now on Table Mountain - at the top of Blackburn Ravine above Hout Bay near the wooden bench and look out platform - is the Velskoenblaar (Afrikaans for "Skin shoe [or moccasin] leaf") or Haemanthus sanguineus. About 25 cm tall, ten or more plants were growing on a rocky shelf at the bottom of the path leading up to the mast, - a splash of intense red in the browy-green fynbos.

The name Haemanthus is derived from the Greek haima and anthos meaing blood and flower. A close lookalike, Haemanthus coccineus, it is thought, was the first flower to be collected by early European visitors to the Cape and was taken back to Holland to be described and grown. The latter differs from the Velskoenblaar in having a speckled stalk.

John Manning and Peter Goldblatt describe them as follows in 'Cape Plants. A conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa', Strelitzia 9.
Haemanthus coccineus L. April Fool. Bulbous geophyte, 6-20 cm. Leaves dry at flowering, 2, spreading, fleshy, often ciliate, usually speckled. Flowers in a compact head, scarlet, bracts many, stiff and leathery. Feb.-Apr. Coastal scrub and rocky slopes, NW, SW, AP, KM, LB, SE (S Namibia to Port Elizabeth).

Haemanthus sanguineus Jacq. Velskoenblaar. Bulbous geophyte, 5--30 cm. Leaves dry at flowering, 2, prostrate, leathery, often outlined with red. Flowers crowded in a dense head, red or pink, bracts leathery. Jan.--Apr., especially after fire. Lower slopes, NW, SW, AP, KM, LB, SE (Nardouw Mts to Port Elizabeth).*
More about Haemanthus.

Other red flowers out at the moment are the Summer Snakeflower (Tritoniopsis triticea)
and its mimic, the Cluster Disa (Disa ferruginea).

The Sixth Great Extinction

2011-01-27T12:00:00.001+02:00

A good article by Niles Eldredge about the Sixth Extinction has some useful links and lesson plans for teachers. There is more there too on the website http://www.actionbioscience.org/. Look in their topic directory.

The photo above is of the sculpture, "Mythological Landscape: A Celebration of Diversity" by John Skotnes on Cape Town's Thibault Square.

'Little Eyebrows' Orchid

2010-10-11T16:34:00.000+02:00

This little orchid, all of about 12 cm tall, is Disa ophrydea. It was growing half hidden under a clump of restios right on the top of Table Mountain and narrowly missed being squished by my backpack. It is pollinated by moths and even though it is unusual to have a red flower for moth pollinated flowers, its spicy strong scent in the evening attracts them.
Ophrydea is from the Greek ‘ophrus’ which means ‘with eyebrows’. And it does seem to have eyebrows. It is endemic to the Cape flora and usually flowers after a fire - occurring on mountain seeps. Flowering time is from October to November. Thanks to William Liltved for the identification. Look out for William Liltved's book - due out in 2011 - The Cape Orchids. It will be a beaut! (It is endorsed and supported by the Botanical Society too.)

More flowers around the world at Today's Flowers.

Flower graffiti

2010-10-08T10:11:00.001+02:00

I found this post about an artist Andrea LaHue, "Flower child for the New Normal", who does flower graffiti. Fantastic!

More Madiba magic

2010-10-05T13:33:00.000+02:00

Today I went to see the reconstruction of the Kirstenbosch exhibit that won a silver medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London earlier this year. I had seen the model when it was unveiled, and seen photos of the exhibit in London, but it is really lovely to see it for real. The proteas were fresh (even though its quite hot today and the tent is really warm!) and beautiful, and the daisies - the ice-cream coloured Barberton Daisies (Gerbera) and the orange gazanias - were delectable.

I was particularly struck with this pink protea (top photo) named after our much-loved Madiba (Nelson Mandela) to mark the occasion of his 80th birthday in 1998. It seems to be a hybrid of the King Protea (Protea cynaroides). More exotic flowers today.

Object to SANBI's short-sighted cuts

2010-09-05T16:34:00.000+02:00

South Africa is recognised internationally for no fewer than three global biodiversity hotspots. It also has eight UNESCO world heritage sites most of which have strong biodiversity elements. All of these areas face threats and education is one essential defence mechanism. SANBI (and preceding agency NBI) has been at the forefront of delivering consistent, broad based, far-reaching, hands-on, respected education programmes for decades. The Cape Argus of 12 August 2010 reported that the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is in the process of 'streamlining' its operations, in order to overcome a large budget deficit. The three programmes that stand to be most affected are the Publications unit, the Urban Conservation unit (specifically the Cape Flats Nature project) and the Environmental Education programme (incorporating school visits to the National Botanical Gardens and the Outreach Greening programme that has been developing indigenous gardens in schools and community centres.. These changes affect both the direct beneficiaries of the programmes, the majority being children from under-resourced schools and communities, and the numerous organisations who work in partnership with SANBI on a variety of environmental education and community outreach programmes. SANBI has not discussed its streamlining plans with programme partners or beneficiaries, allowing no opportunity to investigate alternatives to the closure or significant down-sizing of programmes that serve South African communities, and which contribute immeasurably to quality biodiversity education. Please sign the petition opposite This petition is your opportunityto have your voice heard. Stand up for these vital programmes by completing this petition. Send it on to friends, family, schools and organisations that care. Share your stories of how SANBI's education and outreach programmes have benefited you. Make positive suggestions for a way forward. The petition has now been closed and sent to SANBI. Report will follow soon.

Endemic ericas

2010-08-18T12:01:00.001+02:00

Ericas are fascinating and exasperating plants! Just when I think I know a thing or two about them, I realize that actually, I know very little about them at all.

Today we went for a walk on the mountains above Kalk Bay and for the first time I saw lots of Erica pyxidiflora plants flowering in amongst the restios near the masts on Steenberg.
There were also lots of Erica urna-viridis flowering profusely,

and some Erica abietina - God know what subspecies it is!

Below is a list of the Cape Peninsula's endemic ericas that I found in a very useful document on the Internet, compiled by Tony Rebelo and Pat Holmes with Clifford Dorse, Ismail Ebrahim, Dalton Gibbs, Nigel Forshaw and Jenny Josefsson.

Erica abietina subsp. abietina Red Heath
Erica abietina subsp. atrorosea Wine‐red Heath
Erica abietina subsp. constantiana Constantia Heath
Erica abietina subsp. diabolis Devils Heath
Erica amoena Delightful Heath
Erica annectens Cliff‐hanger Heath
Erica baccans Berry Heath
Erica capensis Cape Heath
Erica caterviflora var. caterviflora Bunch Heath
Erica caterviflora var. glabrata Troop Heath
Erica clavisepala Club Heath
Erica cyrilliflora Red Hill Heath
Erica depressa Dwarf Heath
Erica diosmifolia Buchu‐leaf Heath 2
Erica eburnea Ivory Heath
Erica empetrina Crowberry Heath
Erica fairii Fairy Heath
Erica fontana Fountain Heath
Erica haematocodon Bloodbell Heath
Erica halicacaba Gooseberry Heath
Erica heleogena Marsh Heath
Erica hirtiflora var. hirtiflora Hairy‐flower Heath
Erica limosa Mud Heath
Erica mammosa subsp gilva Peninsula Ninepin Heath
Erica margaritacea Pearl Heath
Erica marifolia Flat‐leaf Heath
Erica mollis Soft Heath
Erica nevillei Rock Heath
Erica oxycoccifolia Cranberry Heath
Erica paludicola Wiry Heath
Erica physodes Bladder Heath
Erica pilulifera Fine‐hair Heath
Erica planifolia Gland Heath
Erica pyramidalis Pyramid Heath (extinct)
Erica pyxidiflora Box Heath
Erica quadrisulcata Four‐grooved Heath
Erica sociorum Partner Heath
Erica subcapitata Pinhead Heath
Erica thimifolia Carpet Heath
Erica turgida Showy Heath (extinct)
Erica urna‐viridis Bottle‐green Heath or Sticky Heath
Erica verticillata Whorled Heath (extinct)

Rainbow over the Kalk Bay mountains.

Soccer in the September issue of Veld & Flora

2010-07-28T23:07:00.000+02:00

The September issue of Veld & Flora includes a centrespread poster and two pages of ideas for class activities and lessons that make up the second Learning about Biodiversity pull-out section for teachers. The poster was designed by the City of Cape Town and I hope that it serve to catch the imagination of some scholars and make them aware of how much fun it is to take an interest in our flora. I would love to have some feedback from teachers. Please email me at veldfloraed@gmail.com.
I hear a rumour that SANBI is curtailing the environmental education and outreach greening programmes at Kirstenbosch and other National Botanical Gardens. I wonder why?

Silver for Chelsea 2010

2010-05-25T09:14:00.000+02:00

News is that we have won a silver medal in the Chelsea Flower Show in London. South African National Biodiversity Institute CEO, Dr Tanya Abrahamse, with the model of the 2010 exhibit.

What is more, the Chelsea 2010 Plant of the Year Award went to Streptocarpus 'Harlequin Blue' which is derived from South African Streptocarpus flowers - possibly Streptocarpus rexii which was first introduced to England in 1826 and is the ancestor of many modern hybrids. (There are about 125 species, native to Madagascar, tropical and southern Africa, with about 52 species in southern Africa.)

Red List of South African Plants 2009

2010-05-12T08:43:00.000+02:00

The new Red List of South African Plants 2009 was published by SANBI last month.

Edited by D. Raimondo, L. Agenbag, W. Foden, J.E. Victor, N.A. Helme, R.C. Turner, D.A. Kamundi and P.A. Manyama, it is published in the SANBI journal, Strelitzia, number 25, and is available at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden and the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden’s bookshop. It can also be purchased from the SANBI online bookshop.

Note the name change from Red Data List to the "punchier" Red List.

Soccer balls, Kirstenbosch and the Chelsea Flower Show

2010-05-05T10:25:00.000+02:00

The design for the Kirstenbosch Chelsea Flower Show exhibit was unveiled this morning.
Designers David Davidson and Ray Hudson, designing the exhibit for the 17th time, took up the challenge to explore the theme of biological diversity, in celebration of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. They have produced an unusual and thought provoking exhibit for the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (SANBI’s) 2010 Kirstenbosch – SA Chelsea entry entitled ‘Bio[logical] diversity is the variety of life’.

Intrigued by the fact that biodiversity occurs at many different levels, ‘ranging from complete ecosystems to the chemical structures that are the molecular basis of heredity’, this year’s exhibit attempts to illustrate the diversity as well as the genetic variability of the botanical wealth that makes South Africa the third most biologically diverse country in the world.

The exhbit represents several of the different vegetation types comprising the nine biomes of South Africa, grouped in four separate nodes, each with its own cluster of interconnected, hexagonal compartments. In addition, the display will include ‘fine-scale’ examples of genetic variability within a single species as well as diversity among species – and within different genera.

The four clusters will feature plants from the following biomes:
Fynbos (Cape Floral Kingdom – proteas, restios, ericas [heathers]);
Forest/Thicket [Sub-tropical] (cycads, euphorbias, strelitzias);
Desert/Succulent Karoo (succulents) and
Savanna/Grassland (aloes, grasses and bulbs.)

And the design of the exhibit has a fascinating connection to soccer ball. It has used the uniform polyhedron as a design element (based on the familiar diagrams used to illustrate the chemical or structural properties of molecules) to determine the layout of the exhibit, overarched by a geodesic domed roof structure (similar to the domed climatron greenhouse of the Eden Project in Cornwall). This same formula was the original inspiration for the design of the soccer ball.
Most modern footballs are stitched from 32 panels: 12 regular pentagons and 20 regular hexagons. The 32-panel configuration is the spherical polyhedron corresponding to the truncated icosahedron; it is spherical because the faces bulge due to the pressure of the air inside. The first 32-panel ball was marketed by Select in the 1950s in Denmark. This configuration became common throughout Continental Europe in the 1960s, and was publicised worldwide by the Adidas Telstar, the official ball of the 1970 World Cup.

Eden

2010-03-29T15:52:00.000+02:00

Earlier this month we took a week-long break in Eden.

Based at Port Alfred (we really prefer Kenton though), we often landed up at Stanley's pub in need of a cold beer (sadly no Mitchell's this time) or some delicious sea food. The Crowned Hornbills were still there with their shrieking whistles and clumsy ways - in the milkwoods that surround the balcony. A very magical place.

With temperatures reaching 40 in Bathhurst, we again had to detour to the Bathhurst Arms in search of more cold beers - all intentions of hiking in the Waters Meeting Nature Reserve abandoned. Another highly recommended stop for weary travellers! When we return, we will be bringing some books to donate to their bookshelf where you can buy books for R2. All proceeds go to feeding rescued and stray dogs and cats.

This is the resident Bathhurst Arms dog taking it easy in the hot weather.

This year we had the luxury of Shirley and Richard Cowling's magnificent new book East of the Cape: Conserving Eden which lent a whole new perspective to this beautiful part of the country. I hear that there are no World Cup soccer matches or practices within a 100 mile radius of Port Alfred and Kenton-on-Sea but visitors to South Africa could be a bit poorer for not including a detour to these deserted, misty beaches or Addo's amazing thicket and forest.

Not too much was flowering this year, apart from lots of Karoo Boer-bean trees (Schotia afra) despite the books all claiming that their normal flowering time was August to October. There were lots of this dainty Common Kalanchoe, Kalanchoe rotuundifolia around too. One of its purported uses is to make one invisible - but I wasn't sure if one rubbed it on or ate it. Perhaps the mist that rolls in off the cold water and swirls around this coast and up the rivers where this plant grows, erasing all lifeforms, has something to do with this story.

Sand Plain Fynbos restoration on Meadowridge Common

2009-09-23T16:09:00.000+02:00

Carly Cowell of Kirstenbosch is also the Project Co-ordinator for the Millennium Seed Bank Project, run by Kew Gardens. Carly has travelled to well-known gardens in Europe, China and Australia and will be giving a public lecture, hosted by the Friends of Meadowridge Common, on

International trends in Restoration and the Meadowridge Common Project.

The talk will take place on Monday 5 October at 7.30 pm at the Meadowridge Library, Howard Street. There is no entrance fee.

Any enquires can be directed to Fiona Watson at 021 712 0696 or Caroline Voget on 072 933 4510 or visit the website of the Friends of Meadowridge Common at http://meadowridgecommon.blogspot.com/.

Chelsea Flower Show Exhibit at Kirstenbosch

2009-09-23T10:42:00.000+02:00

The Kirstenbosch exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show in May earlier this year, "Havens of Diversity", won us our 30th gold medal and will be re-created on the Marquee Lawn at Kirstenbosch from 3-11 October. The exhibit will be open during normal garden hours and a small entry fee of R10 will be charged in addition to the normal garden entry fee.

Designers David Davidson and Ray Hudson took the theme of biodiversity to show the world how our Botanical Gardens are the vital link in teaching the public about the foundation blocks for our survival - food, fuel, fibres, the energy we use, the water we drink and the air that we breathe.
The exhibit features four of the National Botanical Gardens of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) from the following areas; Kirstenbosch, (Cape Town) Hantam (Nieuwoudtville), Lowveld (Nelspruit) and Walter Sisulu (Roodepoort), the quadrants represent the vista of the region in a postage stamp styled photograph with the unique flora of the specific area growing out of the picture. Cleverly executed, it creates the feeling of walking into the actual scenes and now visitors will be able to take a peek at some of the other glorious gardens in the country.
Although SANBI did not have a sponsor this year for the exhibit, they did not want to disappoint loyal visitors so took the decision to charge a small entry fee to cover some of the expenses.

The Chelsea Flower Show exhibit will be on show at Kirstenbosch on the Marquee Lawn (top gate) from Saturday 3 to Sunday 11 October.
The Garden is open from 08h00 - 19h00
Garden entry: R35 for adults, R20 for students, R10 for scholars (between 6 and 17) and free for children under 6.
Entry to the exhibit R10
For further information call the Kirstenbosch information Desk: 021 799 8783 or visit Kirstenbosch What’s On page http://www.sanbi.org/

Durban also won a gold medal for their exhibit - a more light-hearted affair with soccer as a theme. Ideas for next year....

Pink proteas

2009-08-25T11:21:00.000+02:00

A Sunday walk up Swartkop mountain above Seaforth took us through the spectacular stand of the rare and endemic Swartkop Spiderhead, Serruria hirsuta.

These beautiful pink serrurias only grow here and nowhere else in the world!

We also saw some wonderful deep-pink specimens of the Black-bearded Protea, Protea lepidocarpodendron in amongst the normal cream-coloured ones. According to Tony Rebelo, this is a recessive gene, like blue or brown eyes in humans, except that in Protea lepidocarpodendron being pink is relatively rare, whereas in Protea neriifolia and Protea laurifolia, and in fact most proteas, it is far more common, and the paler forms are usually rarer.

This is Force, a collared adult male in the Smitswinkel baboon troop, eating parts of Protea lepidocarpodendron at Blockhouse Gap below Swartkop. Photograph by Alice Notten of Kirstenbosch.

WHAT IS THE RED DATA LIST?

2009-07-18T14:12:00.001+02:00

A comprehensive and authoritative account of the global, regional and national conservation status of plants and animals. The IUCN Red List of threatened species is compiled mainly through contributions from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN’s 7 000 member Species Survival Commission, partner organizations, and regional initiatives. Plants are listed under categories that indicate the varying degrees of their probability or risk of extinction in the wild. There are nine IUCN categories under which every species can be classified.

Extinct (EX) There is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.
Extinct in the Wild (EW) The species is known only to survive in cultivation or as a naturalized (not original) population.
Critically Endangered (CR) The best available evidence indicates that the species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
Endangered (EN) Evidence indicates that the species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
Vulnerable (VU) Evidence indicates that the species is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
Near Threatened (NT) The species is very likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future.
Least Concern (LC) The species does not qualify for any of the above categories now, but may do so in the future.
Data Deficient (DD) There is inadequate information to make an assessment of the species’ risk of extinction.
Not Evaluated (NE)

And the Orange List...
The latest IUCN criteria do not include rarity, as the objective of the IUCN system is to determine which species face human induced threats. However, for conservation purposes in South Africa, we are also interested in monitoring rare species. For this reason SANBI’s Threatened Species Programme (TSP) has developed the ‘Orange List’ system, which is used to define plants that are have restricted distribution ranges or population size, but that do not face any direct threats. There are three categories of rarity: Critically Rare for species only known from one location, Rare for species that are known from less than five locations, and Rare-Sparse for species occurring in five to twenty locations, but where all populations are small and fragmented.(See article ‘Endangered plants’ by Carly Cowell, Cherise Viljoen and Trevor Adams in the March 2007 issue of Veld & Flora, p. 18 and http://www.iucnredlist.org/.)

Erica hermani, known only from Hermanus and Vogelgat Nature Reserve and Critically Endangered due to coastal housing development. A new range extnesion was found by Ross Turner on a farm on the north slopes of the Babilonstoring mountain range. Read about it in the September 2009 issue of Veld & Flora.

Photo: Ross Turner.

Indigenous tree list for the Cape Peninsula

2009-04-18T10:03:00.000+02:00

Indigenous tree list for the Cape Peninsula
By Pat Holmes, City of Cape Town (from a newsletter from WESSA).

General trees for non-coastal sunny aspects
Brachylaena neriifolia Cape silver oak small
Canthium inerme Cape date medium
Diospyros whyteana Wild coffee medium
Dodonea viscosa Sand olive small
Grewia occidentalis Corss berry raisin medium
Gymnosporia buxifolia Common spikethron small
Halleria lucida Tree fuchsia medium
Hartogiella schinoides Spoonwood medium
Kiggelaria africana wild peach medium
Leucadendron argenteum Silver tree (requires granite or shale-derived soils) medium
Leucospermum conocarpodendron Tree pincushion small
Maytenus oleoides Rock false candlewood small
Olea capensis subsp. macrocarpa Ironwood tall
Olea europaea subap africana Wild olive small
Podocarpus latifolius yellwowood tall
Protea ntida wagon tree small
Rhus lucida waxy current bush small
Salix hirsuta Cape willow (requires wet site) small
Virgillia oroboides keurboom medium
Widdringtonia nodiflora mountain cypress small

Forest trees
Shade-requiring species
Apodytes dimidiata white pear tall
Cassine peragua Forest spoonwood tall
Celtis africana White stinkwood tall
Chionanthus foveolatus Bastard ironwood medium
Cunonia capensis rooiels (requires wet site) tall
Curtisia dentata Assegai tall
Ilex mitis Cape holly (requires wet site) tall
Maurocenia frangularia Hottentots cherry small
Maytenus acuminata Sybas silky bark medium
Ocotea bullata stinkwood tall
Olinia ventosa hard pear tall
Rapanea melanophloeos Cape beech tall

Coastal
exposed conditions with alkaline sands
Robsonodendron maritime Copastal silky bark small
Chyrsanthemoides monilifera Bietou small
Euclea racemosa Sea guarrie small
Olea europaea subsp. africana Wild olive small
Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus Candlewood medium
Rhus glauca blue kuni-rhus small
Rhus laevigata Dune currant-rhus small
Sideroxylon inerme White milkwood medium
Tarchonanthus camphoratus Camphor bush

Pixie Littlewort Trail

2009-03-30T14:52:00.001+02:00

I was intrigued to see information about a trail in Newlands Forest called the Pixie Littewort Trail with numbered stops along the way, but nowhere were there any booklets or any information about how to get the booklets that presumably go with the trail. A quick google yielded the information that it is an "Educational Trail Brochure that includes in situ observations on the very active geomorphology of the area with emphasis on the ancient buffered environment which allows a subtropical forest to grow in a summer stress area. Walks using the new brochure may be arranged.

Contact Pixie Littlewort on 021 683 3964 or email her at pstanbridge@telkomsa.net."

Autumn butterfly

2009-03-30T13:15:00.000+02:00

One of the most distinctive butterflies of Table Mountain in autumn is the Cape Autumn Widow, Dira clytus clytus. I photographed this one along the Woodcutter's Trail, just as you come out of the forest into the newly cleared area above the Newlands Forest car park. André Claassens kindly confirmed my identification and added that it looks like a female with its larger abdomen and more rounded wings. He says they are very common during April.

The family Satyriinae or browns (which includes the Table Mountain Beauty) are grass feeders, but have been successful in colonizing the grass-poor fynbos. Their diet of grass means they are not poisonous, so theoretically they cannot afford to be highly visible (tell that to the Table Mountain Beauty!) and they rely on camouflage to escape detection. By far the most common here in the Cape is the Cape Autumn Widow or Cape Autumn Brown, Dira clytus clytus which appears everywhere on the mountain during late summer and autumn sometimes in congregations of several thousand individuals (according to Anton Pauw and Steven Johnson in their wonderful book Table Mountain: A Natural History). They have eyespots on their wings which are thought to confer some protection against predatory birds. Seldom do you see them on flowers, but females are often seen flying low over grass tussocks in which they scatter their eggs.
The Table Mountian Beauty. Photographed on Constantiaberg by Alice Notten.

A few years ago, I met legendary butterfly man, André Claassens, who has contributed many articles on butterfly/plant interactions, which usually involve other goggas like ants, to Veld & Flora. André has an encyclopaedic knowledge of butterflies and moths, and has observed, bred and written about them for years. He has written two books, one of which I carry with me on any hike on Table Mountain (Butterflies of the Cape Peninsula: A comprehensive Guide).
Most websites and guides just identify the butterfly, but contribute little else - nothing about their lifecycles, what they eat, not even what the larvae look like, and moths hardly get a look-in, so books like Andre's two, and Mike Pickers Field Guide to Insects of South Africa are just fantastic for nosy parkers like me.
I bought Field Guide to Insects from the BotSoc's bookshop on Saturday, and the lady serving burst into laughter to think that a whole book should be devoted to insects. "Its not like they are like wild animals, or something" she remarked. I must be a bit odd in the head then but I can spend hours trying to find out about a speckled moth on my bathroom window, or what antlions turn into.

The Clanwilliam Cedar

2009-03-24T11:54:00.001+02:00

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Submit an article to Veld & Flora

2009-01-30T12:21:00.000+02:00

Veld & Flora
GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

Please submit manuscripts in electronic format, either via email: info@botanicalsociety.org.za, or on a cd and posted to: The Editor: Veld & Flora, Botanical Society, Private Bag X10, Claremont, 7735.

A printed copy of the manuscript, if posted, in addition to electronic text would be appreciated. Manuscripts should be accompanied by illustrative material - digital photos, slides, photographs, line drawings or original artwork - and emailed (as separate JPEG or TIFF files) or posted to the Botanical Society. Please include credits for these. Please ensure that all people in photographs are named in full. Please include, as far as possible, an approximate scale or indication of the size of a plant, especially for close-up views.

Please note that for large format reproduction, digital images and scans should be 300 dpi, or more and scans should be 21 cm across (from left to right: i.e. the width of a page). For smaller illustrations 70 dpi is acceptable as long as the photo is more than 20 cm wide or high. Please save them as TIFF files or JPEG files for PC. Smaller images can be emailed to us in JPEG files, but please don’t email very large files; rather post them to us on a cd.

A photo of the author (preferably not a mug shot but doing something related to the author’s work) and a short resume of the authors cv is welcome, but not obligatory.

Articles should be a maximum of 2000 words. To minimize unilateral editorial shortening of submitted articles, contributors are urged to keep strictly to the stated text length limit. If a proposed article is significantly longer for any reason, the author should discuss the article with the editor before preparing the material for submission.

The magazine has a broad readership so please avoid technical text and scientific jargon, and use simple language. Subject matter should generally focus on the indigenous plantlife and ecology of southern Africa. Please include full scientific names of plants as well as common names. If the plant has no common name, why not suggest one?

Maps and simple diagrams are welcome, but note that we do not publish lists of figures, graphs, tables and complex diagrams. We don’t usually publish references, but a short list of further reading is acceptable. All books or journals listed should be available in libraries or bookshops. Please include the publisher and date of publication.

Please note that the editor reserves the right to amend, shorten and/or reject an article. Content is planned in advance and your submission may not appear immediately.

Proofs will be sent in PDF form so please include an email address.

Being a non-profit organization, we do not offer any form of remuneration, but authors can request up to five copies of the relevant issue. The article (including any images you submit) will also be posted on the Internet as part of an agreement the Botanical Society has with Sabinet, and can be accessed at http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_veld.html. Authors can request a special code to access their issue for free. Due care will be taken with material submitted, but the Editorial Committee and the Botanical Society cannot be held responsible for loss or damage.

Articles should be sent to: The Editor, Veld & Flora, Botanical Society, Private Bag X10, Claremont, 7735.

Enquiries regarding publication: Simone van Rooyen, Botanical Society, Tel: (021) 797 2090, Fax: (021) 797 2376, Email: info@botanicalsociety.org.za.
Enquiries regarding digital images: Rothko International, Tel: (021) 465 9642, Email: jnotten@rothko.co.za.

Please be aware that we have a backlog of articles and can only publish on a first come, first served basis.

(The photo of a honeybee on a restio at the top of this post was taken by Johan Booyens and featured in the September 2009 issue of Veld & Flora, p 148-149.)

White Spot moth

2009-01-20T10:28:00.000+02:00

What does this caterpillar turn into?
I photographed this beautiful caterpillar on the hillside above Simonstown while looking for the endemic Lachenalia capensis with Graham Duncan one Sunday in October. It seemed like a good photo to use with the article by Gavin Maneveldt Is your garden green? that encourages readers to garden in an environmentally friendly way. How could anyone poison or squash such a cute creature?
I have had many queries asking what it is, and thanks to Simon van Noort of Iziko Museums of Cape Town (via their excellent website http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/) it has been identified as the caterpillar of the White Spot moth (Mesocelis monticola, Family Lasiocampidae).

Simon van Noort kindly sent the accompanying photograph and description of the male moth, which is blackish brown with a central white spot on each forewing. The females he says are wingless and remain in their cocoons that are spun within the twigs of a shrub. The caterpillars feed on a variety of plants from pines to Rhus and Watsonia.
For more about our amazing biodiversity visit:

http://www.figweb.org/

http://www.waspweb.org/

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/ and http://www.iziko.org.za/.

Grassland flowers of Umfula Nkosi

2008-12-09T08:49:00.000+02:00

Here are some of the treasures I found in a single, rainy weekend on Umfula Nkosi (which means "River God") with David Graham and Gordon Mansell, who are part owners of this amazing farm in the Roossenekal/Steenkampsberg area, and their family and friends. The farm falls in the Sekhukhuneland Centre of Floral Endemism (see http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/agpc/doc/Show/SAfrica/sapaper/saessay.htm for a good article) and it really is a spectacularly beautiful place.

Zantedeschia pentlandii, one of our three yellow arums) grows on the slopes leading down to the river. Endemic to this area, it is celebrated in nearby Roossenekal in the annual spring "Yellow Arum Lily Festival".

We also found a some pink arums, Zantedeschia rehmannii growing in the grasslands at the top of the farm.

Other highlights were finding Moraea triffida (the flower is about the size of a R2 coin) and, in the fading light of a stormy evening, seeing Gladiolus longicollis subsp. platypetalus with its scented petals. (Thanks to John Manning for help with identification.)

Another surprise was the spectacular Pelargonium luridum that grows in the tall grass.

I will post more photos and information soon....

Veld & Flora. Time for change?

2008-12-04T10:51:00.000+02:00

‘Veld & Flora is too scientific'.

'The name Veld & Flora is rather old-South Africa.'

'I don't read magazines anymore, I use the Internet'.

These are some of the responses to my informal opinion poll about Veld & Flora. Luckily there was some praise for it too; its strong points being the 'diversity of articles', a 'positive attitude to conservation' and the fact that it keeps BotSoc members up to date with new research and discoveries in botany. Sadly, most of the under twenty age group had never even heard of it!
So is it time for a name change? What do you think? Please help us to gauge popular opinion by entering our Do you think that Veld & Flora needs a new name? opinion poll opposite. Or email us at VeldfloraEd@gmail.com or info@botanicalsociety.org.za, or post a comment right here.
Veld & Flora started out as a popular magazine aimed at school children and the interested public in 1971, a separate entity to the ‘serious’ journal which was known as the Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa. 'Know and value your floral heritage,' the new magazine proclaimed, '…an increased knowledge of our flora will promote and increase interest in our floral heritage and the desire to preserve it'. Sound familiar? Then in June 1975, after going for sixty years, the Journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa merged with the 'popular' magazine and changed its name to Veld & Flora. (In 1980 a supplement for children, Vygie ran for a couple of years.)

Index for Veld & Flora 2008

2008-11-20T10:32:00.000+02:00

Veld & Flora SUBJECT INDEX for 2008

Subject number/page
Abbott, Tony: Marloth Medal recipient 2, 55
Abbott, Tony: Marloth Medal winner 3, 118
Abbott, Tony: Marloth Medal winner 3, 174
Acrolophia lunata, the moonlight acrolophia 2, 72
African aloe, Aloe africana 2, 100
African bluebells, Wahlenbergia 1, 18
African wormwood, Artemisia afra 2, 102
Agulhas National Park, Pietie se Punt 2, 74
alien invasive insects, Argentine ant 1, 16
Aloe africana, the African aloe 2, 100
Annual General Report 2008 3, 119
ants, fynbos 1, 16
April fool, Haemanthus coccineus 3,129
Argentine ant 1, 16
Artemisia afra, African wormwood 2, 102
Aspalathus linearis, rooibos tea 1, 8
Aspalathus recurvispina, CREW, Port Elizabeth 2, 64
Attwood, Leonard, botanical artist 2, 90
bees, pollen thieves 3, 148
Betty’s Bay Hack Group 3, 174
Biodiversity & Wine Initiative, BWI 3,125
Biodiversity in Environmental Assessment Project 2, 57
Biodiversity in Environmental Assessment Project 4, 186
biodiversity in environmental education 2, 104
biodiversity in environmental education 3, 168
Boophone disticha, the century plant 1, 38
botanical art, Kirstenbosch Biennale 3, 161
botanical gardens, Garden Route 2, 96
Botha, Mark: appointment 2, 56
Botha, Mark: appointment to CapeNature 1, 5
BotSoc Council, new members 4, 182
BotSoc’s biodiversity expectations 4, 186
Breede River Valley, CREW 3,127
Breede River Valley, Fir Tree Park 3, 150
Bulbine frutescens, cultivation and uses 3, 166
bulbs, West Coast flora 4, 194
Burns, Angus: Enkangala Grassland Project 1,6
butterflies and plants, Fir Tree Park 3, 150
butterflies, SABCA 2, 92
Calotesta alba, Towerkop silkyleaf 3, 145
Cape Flats Nature project 2, 68
Cape lowland flora, Kenilworth Racecourse 1, 31
century plant, Boophone disticha 1, 38
charter, BotSoc’s Centenary Charter 2, 56
Claassens, Andrė, best article by amateur botanist 1,2
climate change 2, 60
climate change 3,123
climate change 4, 184
common names 1, 2
common names 2, 99
Cotyledon adscendens, CREW, Port Elizabeth 2, 64
Cowling, Richard: admitted to NAS 3, 130
CREW, Erica jasminiflora, Caledon 2, 66
CREW, Lachenalia mathewsii, West Coast 2,62
CREW, Port Elizabeth 2, 64
CREW, Worcester and Piketberg 4, 188
CREW: Mamre 3,126
CREW: Worcester and Piketberg 3,127
Dassiekrantz, Eastern Cape 4, 206
De Jager, Pieter 1929-2008 4, 238
De Villiers, Charl: Conservation Unit staff 2, 57
Delosperma, Gauteng, taxonomy 4, 202
Delosperma, taxonomy 3, 158
desert coconut, Pseudogaltonia clavata 4, 200
desert grapes, Jensenobotrya lossowiana, Namib 2, 82
Dietes bicolor, the yellow wild iris, Pondoland 2, 69
Disa hybrids, cultivation, La Motte 3, 135
disas of the Drakensberg 4, 217
Ebrahim, Ismail: Flora Conservation Medal 2, 55
Edith Stephens Wetlands Park, education 1, 41
Enkangala Grassland Project 1,6
environmental education 1, 41
environmental education 2, 104
environmental education 3, 168
environmental education, teacher upliftment 4, 226
EIA, Biodiversity in Environmental Assessment Project 2, 57
Erica jasminiflora, jasmine heath, Caledon 2, 66
Erica recurvata, Overberg 1, 26
Esterhusen, Elsie, plant collecting, Cape flora 3, 145
Fir Tree Park 3, 150
fire, a keystone ecological process 3, 154
forest flora, Platbos, Overberg 2, 80
Free State National Botanical Garden 4, 233
gall forming midges, on milkwoods 3,134
Garden Route Botanical Garden 2, 96
Gibbs, Dalton: Flora Conservation Medal 2, 55
Gibson’s nerine, Nerine gibsonii 3, 142
Good foods alliance 1,5
grassland, mining 4, 183
grasslands, mining threat, Mpumalanga 1, 6
grasslands, National Grasslands Programme 3,124
Haemanthus coccineus, April fool 3,129
Hantam region, Succulent Karoo, map 3,132
Harper, Mike, BotSoc Council 4, 182
Hessequa, southern Cape flora 4, 210
honeybee pollen thieves 3, 148
Honours and Awards 2008 2, 55
Hottentot’s Holland Nature Reserve 2, 111
indigenous gardening 4, 221
indigenous gardening, colour 1, 12
insect pests, on milkwoods 3,134
insect pests, scale insects on ericas 3, 156
insects and plants, Dassiekrantz 4, 206
insects, Argentine ant 1, 16
Interfaces, conference 4, 185
Iosiphakis, Mari: farewell 2, 54
Janse van Rensburg, Helgard Michal 1918-2007 1, 47
jasmine heath, Erica jasminiflora, Caledon 2, 66
Jensenobotrya lossowiana, desert grapes, Namib 2, 82
Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area 1, 31
Kirstenbosch Garden Fair, gardening for colour 1, 12
Kirstenbosch Garden Guides 3, 173
Klapmuts Conservancy 1, 36
KwaZulu-Natal coastal branch, garden fair 4, 236
KwaZulu-Natal NBG, Plane Tree Avenue 4, 192
KwaZulu-Natal NBG, the longest tea party 4, 237
La Motte Disa hybrids 3, 135
Lachenalia mathewsii, CREW, West Coast 2,62
Lawrence, Michael, BotSoc Council 4, 182
Ledebouria atrobrunnea 2, 87
Local Action fro Biodiversity Project 2, 67
long-tongued flies, pollination 4, 206
Lutzeyer, Heiner: Flora Conservation Medal 2, 55
Madiba’s 90 trees, Garden Route 4, 234
Mamre, CREW project 3,126
Manning, John 4, 194
Manukelana, community nursery 3, 164
Marloth Medal Tony Abbott, winner 3, 118
Marloth Medal, Tony Abbott, winner 3, 174
Maze, Kristal: Young Women Conservation Biologists Award 2, 57
McKenzie, Bruce: retirement 3, 118
mesembs, Delosperma, Gauteng, taxonomy 4, 202
mesembs, plant taxonomy, modern techniques 3, 158
Metalasia oligocephala, Nooitgedacht blombos 3, 145
mining threat in Mpumalanga grasslands 1, 6
mites, on milkwoods 3,134
moonlight acrolophia, Acrolophia lunata 2, 72
mountain flora, disas of the Drakensberg 4, 217
Namaqualand, spring flowers 3, 136
Namaqualand, winter bulbs 4, 194
Namib Desert, Jensenobotrya lossowiana 2, 82
National Grasslands Programme 3,124
Nerine gibsonii, Gibson’s nerine 3, 142
Nerine humilis 1, 21
Nerine ridleyi 3, 140
Nooitgedacht blombos, Metalasia oligocephala 3, 145
Nunn, Avril: Betty’s Bay 4, 235
nursery, Manukelana 3, 164
Oak Valley Wines, BWI 3,125
Outreach Greening Programme, Kirstenbosch 2, 108
Overberg flora, Erica recurvata 1, 26
Pietie se Punt, Agulhas National Park 2, 74
plant collecting, Cape flora 3, 145
plant restoration, spekboomveld 4, 214
Platbos forest, Overberg 2, 80
pollination, Dassiekrantz, Eastern Cape 4, 206
pollination, honeybee pollen thieves 3, 148
pollination, ultraviolet 1, 22
pollination, West Coast sandveld 1, 18
Pondoland, Dietes bicolor, the yellow wild iris 2, 69
Portulacaria afra, spekboom 4, 214
Pretoria National Botanical Garden 3, 130
Priem, Colin, BotSoc Council 4, 182
Pseudogaltonia clavata, desert coconut 4, 200
Psoralea implexa 3, 145
Rabaney, Zaitoon 4, 182
Rabaney, Zaitoon: appointment as Director of Operations 2, 56
Recommended terms of reference for the consideration of biodiversity in environmental assessment and decision-making 4, 187
Red Data List, IUCN 4, 188
renosterveld, Klapmuts Conservancy 1, 36
renosterveld, southern Overberg 3, 175
Restoring valuable spekboomveld 4, 214
retirement, Bruce McKenzie 3, 118
Richtersveld Excursion, Pretoria Branch 4, 239
Roggeveld region, Succulent Karoo, map 3,132
rooibos tea, Aspalathus linearis 1, 8
Rourke, John: awards Marloth Medal 3, 118
Rycroft, Hedley Brian 1, 47
scale insects, on ericas 3, 156
Sedgefield Island Conservancy 1, 46
Serruria flava, Wupperthal spiderhead 1, 8
Sideroxylon inerme, white milkwood, diseases 3,134
sorghum, cultivation and uses 4, 224
South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment, SABCA 2, 92
southern Cape flora 4, 210
Southern Overberg branch, name change 3, 175
spekboom, Portulacaria afra 4, 214
spekboomveld, plant restoration 4, 214
spekboomveld, restoration 4, 214
spring flower displays on the West Coast 3, 136
Springer Bay, Garden Route 3, 173
Stephen, Yvonne 1930-2008 4, 235
Succulent Karoo, spring flower displays 3, 136
Succulent Karoo, vegetation map 3,132
Tamboer, Josias: Kirstenbosch staff 2, 109
Tanqua region, Succulent Karoo, map 3,132
taxonomy, Delosperma 3, 158
Towerkop silkyleaf, Calotesta alba 3, 145
traditional plants, Artemisia afra 2, 102
traditional plants, Boophone disticha 1, 38
traditional plants: Bulbine frutescens 3, 166
traditional plants, sorghum 4, 224
Tree Tag Project, Limpopo 4, 237
ultraviolet, pollination patterns 1, 22
University of Bristol Botanical Gardens 2, 96
vegetation map, Hantam-Tanqua-Roggeveld 3,132
Vergelegen Wine Estate, BWI 3,125
Wahlenbergia, African bluebells 1, 18
West Coast, bulbs 4, 194
West Coast, Mamre and CREW 3,126
West Coast, sandveld, pollination 1, 18
West Coast, spring flowers 3, 136
white milkwood, Sideroxylon inerme, diseases 3,134
Wilderness Village Walkway 2, 110
Wupperthal Rooibos Tea Association 1, 11
Wupperthal spiderhead, Serruria flava 1, 8
Yeats, Jeanette: Honorary Life Membership 2, 55
yellow wild iris, Dietes bicolor, Pondoland 2, 69

Green tree pincushion on the Cape Peninsula

2008-11-19T18:56:00.000+02:00

Leucospermum conocarpodendron viridum
Near Spes Bona Forest, above Kalk Bay.
These pincushions are found from Kirstenbosch and Hout Bay southwards, where they are prominent and widespread. (Also found on Hottentots Holland’s to Franschhoek and the Kleinrivier mountains.)
Young leaves are covered in grey hairs causing confusion between the two subspecies Leucospermum conocarpodendron viridum and L. conocarpodendron conocarpodendron.
According to Tony Rebelo's little book Proteas of the Cape Peninsula, Leucospermum conocarpodendron viridum seems to co-exist with Mimetes fimbrifolius (tree pagoda), with which it may be easily confused when neither are in flower. Scientists have no idea as to how these two species can co-exist in the same habitat – theories suggest that one should go extinct.

Mimetes fimbrifolius near Spes Bona forest Kalk Bay, Nov 2008.

Agulhas nuclear station power lines EIA

2008-11-18T07:53:00.000+02:00

About 30 stakeholders in the Overberg District attended a meeting on 7 November 2008 about the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Proposed Eskom Bantamsklip Transmission Lines. The meeting was organized by the Agulhas Biodiversity Initiative and the Overberg Integrated Conservation Group (OICG), and was conducted by consultants Arcus Gibb and Nomi Muthialu and Associates (NMA).

Stakeholders at the meeting expressed concern about the fact that the power lines EIA was being conducted separately from the EIA already underway for Eskom’s three proposed nuclear power station sites – Bantamsklip 10km south of Pearly Beach, Duynefontein near Koeberg and Thyspunt near Cape St Francis. No final decision has been taken about the three proposed nuclear power stations.

The power lines EIA is designed to assess the biophysical, social and economic impacts of several potential routes, or propose alternative routes, for four 765KV lines from Bantamsklip to the Kappa substation, four 400KV lines to the Bacchus substation and one 400KV line from Bacchus to Muldersvlei. Depending on the designs chosen for the pylon structures, the servitude for four parallel lines could be up to 320 metres wide.

The proposed routes have the potential to pass through threatened habitats, threatened biodiversity or critical wetlands. As part of the scoping phase, specialist studies are being conducted in a number of fields – including a botanical impact assessment by Nick Helme, a bird study by Chris van Rooyen and a study on mammals, reptiles and amphibians by James Harrison. The consultants have been asked to add a wetlands specialist study, given that the two proposed routes to Kappa pass directly though the sensitive Nuwejaars wetland system.

A draft scoping report will be produced in January 2009 for public comment, and the EIA will be conducted from March to August 2009. Interested and affected parties can contact NMA to register at mailto:theoh@nma.org.za and the OICG can be contacted at roryallardice@telkomsa.net

The Hoerikwaggo Trails

2008-11-09T16:40:00.000+02:00

The Table Mountain Trail, the three-day, guided, catered and portered hiking trail is fully up and running and leaves from the Waterfront, over-nighting on the lower slopes of Table Mountain in the

restored Platteklip Wash Houses. Then it continues up the cableway to the next overnight stop at the Overseer’s Cottage, above Cecilia Ridge, and finally, down to Kirstenbosch.

The Hoerikwaggo Tented Classic (also known as the ‘Tip to Top trail’) is not quite finished yet. At present you can do three parts of it. The remaining sections will soon be completed, and will eventually all link up into a five night/six day, portered, self-catering trail from Cape Point to Table Mountain.
Cape Point to Smitswinkel Bay

The Cape of Good Hope Trail
A 2-day/one night trail that starts at the main entrance gate to the Cape of Good Hope and heads south toward Smitswinkel Bay. After traversing Judas Peak, skirting Paulsberg and summiting Kanonkop it reaches the Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre. From there a brief detour to Buffels Bay then on to the overnight huts on Da Gama Peak. (The old forestry station complex above Smitswinkel Bay.) Day two involves a leisurely walk across Platboom beach, a walk to Sirkelsvlei, then over Rooihoogte and back to the gate.

STILL BEING CONSTRUCTED
Smitswinkel Bay to Red Hill
From the camp in the old forestry station complex above Smitswinkel Bay, to the camp that will be built at the SA Navy's Signal School, off Red Hill above Simon's Town.
[This is where you find Just Nuisance’s grave.]

Red Hill to Slangkop
15 km of easy hiking from the summit of Red Hill to the tented camp at Kommetjie.
From Red Hill, above Simon's Town, a flat and sandy path goes to Kleinplaas dam, beneath Grootkop, then follows the northern edge of the dam. From here a new path, 'purpose-built' for the trail, dips into Bokramspruit before contouring the mountain above Ocean View. It descends to cross the Ocean View-Misty Cliffs road past what must have been an old farm, marked by graves. Then up to Cobra Camp, a disused radar station from World War 2 with good views onto Kommetjie and Slangkop Lighthouse. The path zigzags to the road, which needs to be crossed, then comes out at the lighthouse. A boardwalk goes to the beach where the entrance to the tented camp is found.
Slangkop Tented Camp is built with a combination of timber from invasive alien trees like Red River gum and pine, removed during clearing operations elsewhere in the park, and local Table Mountain Sandstone. The ‘tents’ are permanent structures, with canvas interiors covered by a completely weatherproof sheeted roof. It’s low, rounded design is meant to complement the low, undulating coastal thicket vegetation of the area.

Slangkop to Silvermine

The Silvermine Trail
18 km of tough hiking, starting at Slangkop Lighthouse, along Noordhoek beach and up to the top of Chapman's Peak. The trail then winds down and up again over Noordhoek Peak, and then down to the tented camp at Silvermine.
Silvermine camp sleeps 12 and is equipped with hot showers, a fridge, stove, cooking utensils and a braai place. It is made of sandbags and recycled metal and wood, from alien vegetation.

Silvermine to Table Mountain

The Orange Kloof Trail
A 2-day hike starting at the Silvermine Dam, traversing the Constantiaberg and Vlakkenberg to Constantia Nek, and ending at the overnight tented camp at Orange Kloof. The next day goes through the restricted Orange Kloof valley before ascending Disa Gorge to Woodhead Dam. A walk through Valley of the Red Gods, finishes at the Upper Cableway. Hikers are then ferried down by Cable Car where the hiking trail ends at the lower Cable Station (weather permitting!) Weather not permitting means a walk down Platteklip Gorge.

These sections of the Hoerikwaggo Trail costs R460 per person for over-nighting and two days on the trail, with your main gear portered.
The camps can also be booked for over-nighting for R300 per person per night.

Go to http://www.parks-sa.co.za/parks/table_mountain/

Click on SANParks map to enlarge

2008-10-27T09:02:00.001+02:00