We made an early start to open the herbarium for maintenance work on the door and airconditioner and then continued putting labels on folders until the rest of the group arrived. Today we were joined by Lizeka and the two Mzamba Beach Stewards, Pakamani and Wendy. Despite the low-hanging clouds, we decided to try a walk at Cubica Heights -- as we have had good rains over the last few weeks, the Outeniqua Falls at Cubica Heights were expected to look good.
After fording two streams and sliding through some muddy sections we reached Cubica Heights and the rain was still holding off. We walked down to get a view of the falls and before we could even see them, the roar of water crashing down into the gorge was confirmation of the volume we had had to face in fording the stream on the way to Cubica Heights - the falls themselves when they came into view were pretty impressive.
 |
| Outeniqua Falls |
There were a few Apodytes abbottii flowering on the edge of the gorge, one Rangaeris muscicola in flower, and we were able to collect voucher material from another of our CREW target species, Pseudoscolopia polyantha.
 |
| Pseudoscolopia polyantha |
 |
| Apodytes abbottii flowering at the edge of the gorge |
Phakamani had indicated that he wanted to make a video of the group in action so he busied himself with capturing snippets of us showing various plants to Wendy.
We managed to find several Orchidaceae in flower; Bulbophyllum scaberulum, Rangaeris muscicola (most still in bud), Tridactyle bicaudata and Tridactyle tridentata, and finally Anne spotted the first of what is suggested to be Stenoglottis macloughlinii.
 |
| Bulbophyllum scaberulum |
 |
| Stenoglottis "macloughlinii" |
With gusting wind and rain falling gently we persevered, walking along the forested edge to the kranzes above the gorge. Here we saw a rather atypical Clausena anisata, recognizable by its fruits rather than the different-looking leaves. Sheltering over the edge in the lee of a rock was an attractive Harveya pauciflora.
 |
| Clausena anisata |
 |
| Harveya pauciflora |
By this stage the rain was coming down with some intent so we scuttled back to the shelter of the vehicles and called an early end to the walk. The rain did not even allow the opportunity for a group photo. We dried out in the herbarium with another labelling session, completing almost a third of the folders.
Participants: Anne S, Gail B-W, Graham G, Kate G, Jean P, Lizeka G, Phakamani M, Wendy B.
No comments:
Post a Comment