Correcting an earlier misidentification

On our previous trips to Anemone falls we have seen and subsequently collected what we thought was the Vulnerable species Anemone bracteata (synonym Knowltonia bracteata), identified as such on the basis of specimens in our herbarium. However, Kate had second thoughts about this because of the lack of hair tipped teeth on the leaf margins and the hairless stems.  After consulting several references and eventually getting confirmation from John Manning, it turns out that the herbarium specimens were incorrectly identified and our plant is Anemone brevistylis, a more common species. The major field identification differences are that A. bracteata has hairy stalks, small flowers and leaves with sharply toothed margins, each tooth hair tipped, whereas A. brevistylis has larger flowers, hairless stalks and leaves with gibbous lateral leaflets and serrated margins.  Crushed leaves of A. bracteata can cause blistering, hence the common name 'brandblaar'.

Anemone brevistylis

The captions and text in the earlier Posts have been corrected. Fortunately this error has no impact on our name for this very special spot in the Unmtamvuna Nature Reserve.


Anemone bracteata is back on our to-do list!