A 2nd visit to Jolivet - more threatened plant species found

What a sudden change in the weather! We had to postpone the visit to Jolivet as the cold and rainy conditions persisted on Thursday and when we made an early start on Saturday we could already feel the heat. After sweltering up the sun-baked hillsides at Jolivet we can well believe that the forecast of 30 degrees Celsius was achieved if not exceeded. However, the hot conditions did little to dampen our enthusiasm as we found a number of other threatened plant species that we did not see on our previous visit a year earlier.

When we arrived at the conservation area at the target site we could see that the other "half" of the grassland had been burned this year, so we decided to travel a different route to explore these newly burned areas.

Our first stop was to revisit the population of a special plant we had discovered last year. At the time we were uncertain of the ID but it it was confirmed to be what we suspected - Riocreuxia flanaganii var. alexandrina, a species red listed as Critically Endangered. Some years back we re-discovered this species in the Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve (see article https://pondolandcrew.blogspot.co.za/2016/01/veld-flora-december-2015-article.html), some 100 years after the species was collected in the area by Rudatis. Last year we saw several of these plants and this year we were able to confirm that the area where they occur on this site is bigger than we thought.

Interestingly, although our visit last year was exactly a year ago, the plants on this occasion had not grown to the stage of producing flowers - we only found one set of buds this time.

Riocreuxia flanaganii var alexandrina buds

Riocreuxia flanaganii var alexandrina leaves

Close by we came across a second rare species for the day, Cyphostemma rubroglandulosa Red Listed as Rare. This collection represents a range extension as the previously known range was from Port St. Johns in the south to Oribi Gorge in the north - some 40 kilometres as the crow flies from this Jolivet site. It is easy to see from this photo why the species was given the name "rubroglandulosa".

Cyphostemma rubroglandulosa

Near the stream we found the odd-looking little fern, Ophioglossum reticulatum.

Ophioglossum reticulatum

An interesting feature of this visit was the number of species of Asparagus we found. None of these is uncommon and all are difficult to adequately depict in a photograph, but it is unusual to have this degree of diversity within one genus in a small area. We found Asparagus asparagoides, A. africanus, A. setaceus, A. falcatus and one other (we await the Asparagus revision).

At the side of a small stream we found Denekia capensis and hidden under the tall unburned grass were groups of Hypoxis membranaceus like little white stars on the ground.

Denekia capensis

Hypoxis membranaceus

We climbed a steep hill - in the hot sun, this was a significant effort -- around a small forest patch and then back down to the vehicle finding some colourful Blechnum tabulare near another stream.

Blechnum tabulare

The forest patch

We then drove up to the top end of the farm and explored on the slopes below. Just before we reached some very attractive shade in another forest patch we came across the find of the day - an orchid in bud which looked very much like the Endangered species Satyrium rhodanthum. There were similar individuals nearby and later, on another hilltop, we found a few more, one with an open flower that helped us confirm its identity. This is another species first collected by Rudatis. This species has a very restricted distribution and is known from only three localities, all under threat to some degree from agricultural activity or unplanned human settlements. This small population will be the fourth known locality for the species.

Getting up close and personal with the Satyrium (photo K Grieve)

Satyrium rhodanthum

Another interesting plant encountered in this area was the Vulnerable Argyrolobium longifolium. Unfortunately, none of the several plants seen had reached flowering stage yet.

After some cool respite in the forest shade we explored the forest fringe further and found Cnestis polyphylla and Memecylon natalense in flower, and an unexpected tree, Seemannaralia gerrardii. 

Cnestis polyphylla

Memecylon natalense

Out on the open grasslands, the most prominent flower was Ursinia saxitilis. Matching this species' yellow colour was Phymaspermum acerosum. Low against the ground we found several Muraltia lancifolia.

Ursinia saxitilis

Phymaspermum acerosum

Muraltia lancifolia

As the trail dropped back towards the river we came across a clump of Kniphofia baurii.
 

Kniphofia baurii

Just before leaving the gate there was a bright patch of Monopsis decipiens.

On the way back we stopped near the site of the old Glen Rosa railway station to see a small population of what used to be known as Begonia rudatisii. This species has been sunk into Begonia homonyma. Unfortunately the soil bank collapsed some time ago, taking most of the plants with it but we managed to find five small plants, one of which was coming into bud.

Begonia (rudatisii) homonyma

It can be seen from the above that the early collector Rudatis (August Gottlieb Hans (1875-1934) was active in the area in the early 1900's. Many of the plants first collected by him are today quite rare, largely as a result of land transformation. We regard it as a great privilege to be given access to a preserved, relatively pristine part of the area once traversed and explored by Rudatis.

Participants: Anne S, Graham G, Kate G.