Private farm in Port Edward/Umtumvuna

It was Thursday and with the humour of the elements it brought with it brutal north-easterly winds. We ventured forth into a privately owned prime land to see the flowers that had come up after the burn. On one side it had not been burnt and we decided that we were not even going to attempt to navigate through waist high grass with nothing to see. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side and full of beautiful wild flowers! The differentiation between the two areas was like night and day.

The wind literally both whistled and howled and one could have mistaken us for birds as our jackets flapped and hats flew off our heads which became like tumble-weeds with us giving chase to retrieve them. One had to do what one loved to expose oneself into the elements of this day.

Gritted and wind burnt and rather shaken by the elements to say the least it was quite a challenge to photograph flowers. The wind buffed against me and shook the camera and our eyes filled like sand pits than only got excrete the next day. Our pigment of our skin changed colour because of the earth blown onto it as the land on one had being owned by another was being ploughed up and the indigenous plants being given to the lucrative Macadamia nut trees. Our hearts sunk when seeing bulbs upturned and plants eliminated from this earth.

Our note-books leaves where turned involuntarily and the handwriting was a shaken if if looking at the book a little later on on when one had forgot the weather was a little worrying. We were left bashed about with brutal winds that left us withered and totally parched and some of us ill...

Cyrtanthus contractus

Our journey:  Anne had to bring the car to a sudden halt as Gail shouted "Stop the car!" on the motorway, which lead us running up  a steep hill side near Port Edward after an area was burnt. We were like children in our excitement seeing the  Cyrthanthus contractus which were absolutely beautiful, so vibrant in their colour and standing out against the charred earth. Breath-taking would be a good word as they did stop us in our tracks.

Tracy bountifully removing a large broken branch off the road that had snapped off in the wind so that our vehicles could gain access into the area we were botanizing.

"Spook-huis", Anne is that you peeking out of the door?

Maggie, Dorothy and Anne being blown away.

Acalypha punctata var. punctata

Merwilla plumbea, perhaps the show-stopper of the day.

Mark observing an Albuca setosa flower.

Ocimum obovatum

C.R.E.W. getting down and dirty.  When with plants one has to become one, one with all.

Eulophia hians 

Graderia scabra

Afroaster hispidus

Argyrolobium harveyanum

Helichrysum alloides 

Senecio bupleuroides

Berkheya setifera - Buffalo-tongue Thistle
When observing the leaf one can clearly understand why it fall's under "Thistle".

Drimia cf echinostachya 

Drimia cf echinostachya

A good indication of how strong the wind was gusting. 

 Tracy admiring the Boophone disticha, thank goodness it has a strong foundation and deeply anchored for it would have been blown away.

Boophone disticha blowing in a north-easterly direction.

Interesting information about the Boophone disticha:

Boophone disticha is a bulbous plant.  It is widely known for its poisonous and medicinal properties. It is of considerable ethnobotanical interest in traditional medicine because of its hallucinogenic alkaloids and it has great potential as an ornamental due to its fan-shaped foliage and large umbel of bright pink to deep red flowers. 

C.R.E.W. wind swept and botanising.

Ledebouria revoluta  

Clutia species

  

Dipcadi marlothii - Dronkui

The common names are quite amusing for the Dipcadi's.

Dipcadi marlothii - Drunk Daintybells

Dipcardi viride - Dainty Green-bells

   

Freesia laxa, showing two different variations with their petals.

Freesia laxa

  

Indigofera rubroglandulosa 

Oxalis cf smithiana

Hewittia malabarica 

Gomphocarpus physocarpus 

Hilliardiella hirsuta - Quilted-leaved Vernonia

Hypoxis hermerocallidea

Hypoxis rigidula

  

Tritonia gladiolaris

The agile Maggie Abbott.

Maggie and Dorothy clambering down a rocky terrain.  

Kniphofia linearifolia - Common Marsh Poker

Kniphofia coddiana

Schizoglossum atropurpureum ssp virens

  

Triglochin milnei

Ruellia cordata - Veld Violet

Mark's lunch spot, hiding from the wind and soaking in the warmth of the sun.

Dorothy and Maggie sheltering from the wind.

Pecis octavia - Guady Commodore

I was able to creep up on this butterfly, the wind was so noisy that it did not notice I was right above him.  What's interesting is that it produces two different forms according to the season.  It the summer it's dark brown and the colour of the earth, it's bands are broken with red and blue.  Their larvea feeds on Solenostemon, Plastosema, Radbosia, Plecatrnthus, Pycnostachus and Coleus.

What an awesome group this is to botanise with. Hugely humbled. We had fun and we did what we loved doing best.

Mark Gettliffe, Alf Hayter, Dorothy Mcintyre, Anne Skelton, Gail Bowers-Winters,
 Tracy Taylor & Maggie Abbott

A special thanks to all those who made this blog possible with their knowledge of identication of the plants and for the beautiful day shared which made it possible.  

Identifications of plants may stand to be corrected as I am still a student in learning. - GBW

“Butterflies are self propelled flowers.”

― Robert A. Heinlein