Pachycarpus revisited (Friday 12 January 2018)

The photos of the unknown Pachycarpus were enough to tempt Adam Shuttleworth to come and see for himself, so he, Kate and I set off for Smedmore again. The second group of plants we had found last week were still flowering well and with the assistance of Adam's trained eye, it was interesting to see that one of the plants had six lobes rather than the normal five.

Pachycarpus sp. nov (normal 5-lobe form)

Pachycarpus sp. nov.with 6 lobes

We then set off along the cliff edge, stopping to look at a bright display of Acridocarpus natalitius and a nearby Cryptolepis capensis. There was also Grewia pondoensis in this same clump but this only had fruits, no flowers.

Photo time for Petopentia natalensis (Photo Kate G.)

A few Pachycarpus coronarius provided the next distraction and then we reached the spot where we had collected a specimen last week of what we think is Pachycarpus sp. nov. The other plants that were in bud last week had flowered and surprisingly, these were not the new species but were Pachycarpus grandiflorus, although one of these was a rather unusual, more open, form.

Pachycarpus grandiflorus

We quartered the grassland on the way back to the vehicle but failed to find any more of the new Pachycarpus species. We did however find an Aspidoglossum gracile and a few Tephrosia bachmannii hiding in the grass.

Aspidoglossum gracile

Tephrosia bachmannii

Adam will compare the photographs of the flowers on these Pachycarpus sp. nov plants against those of plants he saw previously in Pondoland to see if they are similar. Hopefully we can get work done to determine whether these plants are hybrids of some sort or are indeed a new species.

Participants: Adam S, Graham G, Kate G.