When we met for our first outing of 2019 it was drizzling off and on, so we waited while the tea aficionados imbibed their brews and then set off towards the beacon at Beacon Hill during a brief respite from the rain. Mostly bundled up against the drizzle, we tried to snatch photos without exposing the cameras too much - Gail had wisely brought her umbrella and could take photos at her leisure.
One of the first flowers we saw were numbers of Alepidea peduncularis - one uncurling bud caught my eye. There were also several Schizocarphus nervosus with their flowers sparkling with rain drops, and a solitary Moraea brevistyla.
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| Alepidea peduncularis |
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| Schizocarphus nervosus |
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| Moraea brevistyla |
Once we reached the vicinity of the beacon at the top of the hill, we encountered
Rangaeris muscicola, Stenoglottis macloughlinii and
Schizochilus zeyheri in the hygrophilous grassland at the base of the rock outcrop. There were also a few clumps of
Erica cubica.
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| Stenoglottis macloughlinii |
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| Rangaeris muscicola |
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| Erica cubica |
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| Keeping the camera dry |
Tucked into the flank of the outcrop was a small cluster of the Rare
Chironia albiflora. Most of the buds were still closed through the lack of sunshine but fortunately there were one or two open flowers. We were pleased to find that this small population is more extensive than we had previously thought.
Dangling out from the top of a low cliff were two rain-drenched
Agapanthus campanulatus buds.
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| Agapanthus campanulatus |
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| Chironia albiflora |
Working our way around the outcrop we found more
Chironia and an interesting small cluster of
Freesia laxa and
Rangaeris muscicola growing together on top of a rock. Further around we found
Tridactyle bicaudata subsp.
rupestris with some fresh flowers, a few flowers on a small
Psydrax obovata and a
Passerina montivaga covered in flowers.
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| Freesia laxa with Rangaeris musicola |
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| Passerina montivaga |
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| Psydrax obovata |
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| Tridactyle bicaudata subsp. rupestris |
Skirting the outcrop we found a small patch of Utricularia livida and set off down the grassy slope towards the dam at Mr. Nic's gully, passing Protea roupelliae on the way. The dam was overflowing -- something we have not seen for some time -- and there were hosts of yellow-flowered Nymphoides thunbergiana near the edges. Deeper in the dam were several blue-flowered Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea.
The rain started coming down more strongly as we headed back - conditions were certainly not conducive to lunch al fresco. At the top of another outcrop we found
Ceropegia linearis bearing several of its small, but interesting, flowers.
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| Just follow the tracks to get home |
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| Ceropegia linearis |
Keeping our heads down out of the rain on the way back, we noticed the first of the season's
Exochaenium grande flowers that we had missed on the outward walk.
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| Exochaenium grande |
Participants: Anne S, Dorothy M, Gail B-W, Gerhard S, Graham G, Kate G, Louise S, Maggie A, Mark G.
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