We were approached by post-grad student Tumeka Mbobo from Stellenbosch University to help her to locate populations of two invasive species of guava, Psidium guajava and Psidium cattleianum. We arranged to meet her at Beacon Hill so she could walk with our group before we took her off to some of the local seaside towns to show her localities for these species.Unfortunately she and her husband Sabelo were delayed after being given wrong directions to Umtamvuna when they asked pedestrians at Izinqoleni. While waiting for them we walked along the reserve fence line so they could find us when they finally arrived. By the time they caught up to us we were decending from the beacon rocky outcrop heading for a lunch spot in the cool shade of the forest along a stream.
Up to that stage we had been lucky to find a good selection of early spring flowers: Indigofera rubroglandulosa, Graderia scabra, Drimia echinostachya, both male and female flowers of Acalypha species, Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus, Watsonia mtamvunae, Euphorbia striata, Ledebouria revoluta, Albuca setosa, Eulophia hians var hians, Drimia depressa and Scadoxus puniceus that caused Gail almost to climb into a small depression to capture the right photo angle.
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| Indigofera rubroglandulosa |
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| Graderia scabra |
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| Drimia echinostachya |
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| Acalypha peduncularis (f) |
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| Acalypha depressinerva (m) |
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| Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus |
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| Watsonia mtamvunae |
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| Ledebouria revoluta |
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| Getting the right angle! |
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| Scadoxus puniceus |
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| Euphorbia striata |
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| Albuca setosa |
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| Eulophia hians var hians |
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| Drimia depressa |
On rock outcrops we found buds on Cyrtorchis arcuata and Polystachya pubescens and a cluster of budding Scilla kraussii (Merwilla sp.) In shallow soil on many of the exposed rock sheets we found Tulbaghia acutiloba in flower.
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| Cyrtorchis arcuata |
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| Scilla kraussii (Merwilla sp.) |
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| Tulbaghia acutiloba |
Having a leisurely look around while we had our lunch sitting in the dry stream bed, we could see Clivia robusta with clusters of red fruits and after some debate we determined that another fruiting tree was Maytenus cordata. We also found old fruit capsules on Putterlickia retrospinosa and there were buds on a Behnia reticulata.
We followed the stream down for a short distance where we found some flowering Struthiola pondoensis. Gail, Anne and Tracy disapeared into the forest and we subsequently found out they had escaped for a quick dip in the shallow water.
We pressed on to find a scattering of quills from a porcupine - evidently one of these had met its end, cause unknown.
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| Struthiola pondoensis |
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| Behnia reticulata |
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| The scene of the crime - where the porcupine bit the dust. |
After we wrapped up our walk in the reserve we took Tumeka off to do a census on some of the guava populations along the lower south coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
Participants: Maggie A, Alf H, Anne S, Gail B-W, Graham G, Kate G, Sabelo M, Tracy T, Tumeka M,
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