Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog: Walking with UKZN students at Vernon Crookes

In mid September we have our annual opportunity to spend a day at Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve with post-grad Botany students from UKZN as part of their 3-day field excursion. We met up at the Vernon Crookes offices and drove a short distance to the picnic spot. This year the grassland above the road had been burned and we set off on foot to see what had sprouted since the fire.

A small white-flowered creeper was the first to be encountered -- a member of the Cucurbitaceae, Pilogyne scabra. We were to see several of these during this part of the walk. There were a few of the yellow-flowered Commelina africana dotted about, as were several Hypericum aethiopicum, also bearing yellow flowers. The many large casts made by the giant earthworm Microchaetus vernoni made walking difficult but we staggered on, finding an Osteospermum grandidentatum, another yellow flower.

Pilogyne scabra

Commelina africana

Osteospermum grandidentatum

Nestled in a crack in an exposed granite outcrop were several Haemanthus humilis already in fruit, these being supported on a robust hairy stalk. A widespread and common plant in this part of the grassland was the narrow endemic species Searsia rudatisii, a geoxylic suffrutex. Many of these were flowering. This was a useful find as one of the families the students were focusing on was Anacardiaceae.

A much more obvious flower was that on a Hilliardiella hirsuta. We were pleased to find several striking Pelargonium schlechteri, these ranging in colour from a pale brown to purple. Climbing up another rock outcrop was Cyphostemma rubroglandulosa.

Haemanthus humilis

Hypericum aethiopicum

Searsia rudatisii

Hilliardiella hirsuta

Delosperma carterae

Pelargonium schlechteri

Cyphostemma rubroglandulosa

As one of the students had recently visited another area of grassland in the reserve where there were many flowers, we decided to drive there and explore further. On the way back to the vehicles we found Aloe maculata, Senecio speciosa, Hibiscus fuscus, Grewia hispida and Syncolostemon parviflorus.

Aloe maculata

Senecio speciosa

It did not take us long to find swathes of flowers at this next part of the reserve. The most obvious from the vantage point of the vehicles were Cycnium adonense. A loud buzzing sound alerted us to a Zanthoxylum capense covered in flowers and buzzing with bees. We were surprised to see the very different suite of plants in this area, until we realised that the rocks here were sandstone whereas we had previously been in granite soils.

Cycnium adonense

Zanthoxylum capense

Vigna unguiculata with its large purple pea-like flower was a species we had not seen on the earlier part of our walk, nor had we seen the flowers on Sphenostylis angustifolia. We also found Graderia scabra, Hebenstretia comosa, Merwilla plumbea, Pachycarpus asperifolius, Eugenia albanensis and Gnidia phaeotricha. We had our lunch sitting on sandstone rocks looking down on a forest patch below us and listening to the bird calls emerging from the forest.

Vigna unguiculata

Ursinia saxitilis

Sphenostylis angustifolia

Pachycarpus asperifolius

Our homeward trip was interrupted by several stops to look at some of the Amaryllidaceae family. The first of these was Boophone disticia and as we started the drop from the plateau towards the entrance gate we found Cytranthus breviflorus and Cyrtanthus contractus.

Just before the gate we noticed several Capparis tomentosa in flower at the side of the road. During this stop we also found Anisochaeta mikanioides and Lasiosiphon macropetalus. The weather had treated us very kindly, holding off on the forecasted rain until we hit the highway. It was great interacting with young botanists who we hope to encounter again later in their careers.