Using flower colour for identifying plants can be quite confusing. I recently found four different colour variations of Gladiolus meridionalis within a few kilometres of each other and all on the same soil type. … Continue reading
Two splashes of red in close proximity to each other on a recent coastal walk turned out to be two magnificent parasitic plant species, both with red flowers. Cytinus sanguineus is known as the aardroos (earth or ground rose), a very apt … Continue reading
Catch this overview on fynbos as an audio interview with Michael Turtle. http://www.timetravelturtle.com/2015/05/sean-privett-grootbos-south-africa/
During the first week of March 2015 a massive fire burnt across the southern Cape Peninsula. An area of about 5,000 hectares was burnt stretching from the slopes of Muizenberg on the Indian Ocean side of the Peninsula across and … Continue reading
We have been identifying the plant species on Grootbos Nature Reserve since the beginning of 1997. Initially I thought the plant survey would take a year or two to complete. How wrong I was! Original estimates from diversity models (based … Continue reading
I was in the beautiful De Hoop Nature Reserve over the weekend. De Hoop is approximately 34 000 ha in size and one of the largest natural areas managed by CapeNature. It is a favorite destination for hikers, cyclists, bird watchers and … Continue reading
My six year old neighbor Nathan sent me this great picture of an arum lily frog Hyperolius horstockii which he had found in an Arum Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) on his farm in the Uilkraals Valley near Gansbaai. This frog uses the arum flowers as … Continue reading
I was walking down the driveway yesterday and came across this chap next to the road. It’s a Cape dune mole rat, the largest of all the blemols (burrowing rodents restricted to sub-Saharan Africa). Measuring 27 to 35 centimeters (11 to 14 … Continue reading
Last week started the year with our first group on the Fynbos Trail (www.walkerbaytrails.co.za). Being the middle of summer I really wasn’t expecting much in the way of flowers and was worried that the hikers would be disappointed by the lack of color … Continue reading
Following the good spring rains in the Overberg the green wood orchid (Bonatea speciosa) has been flowering profusely the last few weeks. This magnificent plant was considered by Darwin to be the most ‘profoundly modified’of all orchids. It is characterized by robust, … Continue reading
