Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog: Looking for Manilkara nicholsonii flowers on a warm winter day (Thursday 1 June 2017)

This week I saw the first whale splash of this winter's calving season, the Aloe thraskiis are flowering and our overnight temperatures are dropping below 20 degrees Celsius so we are officially beset by the ravages of winter.

This week we met at Beacon Hill for a tea to celebrate Maggie's birthday with a number of possible walks to choose from. We eventually agreed on Manilkara Meander to see if we could find Manilkara nicholsonii in flower - it has managed to elude us on previous visits. As we entered the reserve near the start of our walk, flowers started catching the eye so we stopped to see what there was at the top of the hill. We found a flowering Muraltia lancifolia and Searsia pondoensis in fruit and nearby were several Lopholaena dregeana in flower.

At the parking spot we found Rafnia elliptica with their dry coiled seed pods and this gave us the opportunity to compare the leaves of Rafnia against those of Lopholaena.

Muraltia lancifolia

Searsia pondoensis

As we walked across the grassland towards the forest edge near the gorge, we came across the first orchid of the new season, Eulophia parviflora, and close by there was a richly coloured head of Euphorbia striata.

Eulophia parviflora

Euphorbia striata

There were many tree species for us to puzzle over when we reached the forest edge but I worked my way down the steep slope into the forest and found Manilkara nicholsonii. After a bit of searching I found one flower and then several clusters of flowers in pristine condition - success! This was indeed lucky as later on during the walk we came across several more M. nicholsonii in more sunny locations, all of which had flowers well past their best.

Manilkara nicholsonii

Also in the forest understorey was a single Polygala macowaniana. At the forest edge a little further on we found a small flowering shrub that gave us some trouble tracking down - with the help of Geoff Nichols we finally identified it as Chionanthus foveolatus subsp. tomentellus.

Polygala confusa

Chionanthus foveolatus subsp. tomentellus

Along these clifftop edges there is a good deal of scratching around needed to find the more elusive small species that are flowering. Anne pushed her way in past some small Gasteria croucheri plants and found a tiny Holothrix orthoceras growing on a rock. Also in this little patch were Carissa bispinosa, Pavetta natalensis and Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus - all in fruit.

Holothrix orthoceras

Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus

Further along we came across two Maytenus species in flower: Maytenus acuminata and Maytenus peduncularis.

Maytenus acuminata

Maytenus peduncularis

Draped over some of the clifftop shrubs were a few Sarcostemma viminale, some with flowers. Another flowering climber was Acridocarpus natalitius.

Sarcostemma viminale

Acridocarpus natalitius

Tricalysia capensis was putting on a good show in the forest margin along the cliff. We then came across another small forb which caused us to think hard - again Geoff Nichols came to the rescue - it was a small Homalium rufescens.

Tricalysia capensis

Homalium rufescens

We saw Senecio bryoniifolius climbing up a tree and in the distance across the valley we could see the pale flowers on a Nuxia floribunda.

Senecio bryoniifolius

Nuxia floribunda

As we worked our way around the cliff edge into an area that was more west facing we started encountering some succulent species. Delosperma ecklonis var latifolium and Kalanchoe rotundifolia were growing on rock sheets and there were a few Caputia medley-woodii on a rocky outcrop below. We then found some Cynanchum gerrardii in flower. This is the first time we have seen this Cynanchum species in the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve. It is distinguished from Sarcostemma viminale by the striations on the stalk and the much smaller flowers.