The day was kind to us this Thursday. We had endured unforgivable winds the day before and braced ourselves to be be blown off the cliffs edge. There was an area below Blencathra which we thought we'd like to explore to see what was growing in the grasslands and see if we could find some Disa. We sadly didn't but the only orchid spotted was Eulophia hians.
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| Eulophia hians |
On private land that belonged to a local farmer we were granted access and then ventured into the Umtumvuna Reserve. Our two specials of today where the the Watsonia mtamvunae and the Eriosema umtumvunense.
Our endangered Eriosema umtumvunese is endemic to the area and it likes to grow on sandy and loamy soils and survives fires because of it's woody root-stock.
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Eriosema umtumvunense -Endangered |
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| Watsonia mtamvunae (Endangered and endemic to area) The Watsonia mtumvunae is considered extremely rare in its specialized habitat. |
On the freshly bulldozed strip of land that was on a macadamian nut farm we found Eriosema kraussianum as well as Hypoxis and Euphorbia guenzii growing out of the grey earth.
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Eriospermum mackenii
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C.R.E.W.
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| Dianthus mooiensis |
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| Afroaster hispidus |
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| Callilepis laureola |
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| Asparagus sp. |
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| Afroaster serrulatus |
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| Argolobium species |
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| Indigofera rubroglandulosa |
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| Indigofera rubroglandulosa seed |
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| Agathosma ovata |
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| Acalypha glandulifolia |
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Thesium species
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| Burchellia bubalina shown in all its stages of life. |
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| Burchellia bubalina |
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| Burchellia bubalina - "Yellow". |
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| The "Yellow" gem hiding secretly behind the rocks. - Burchellia bubalina. |
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| Ceasia contorta. They looked like incredibly delicate blue stars on threads. |
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Clutia species |
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Crassula obovata var dregeana
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| Diospyros scabrida (Female) |
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| Eriosema kraussianum |
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| Euphorbia natalensis |
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| Euphorbia guenzii |
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| Gnidia nodiflora |
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| Gnidia coriacea |
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Tracey very comfortable with her cricket friend who took a great liking to her and decided to attach itself onto her back-back and go for the ride. Gail gave a wide berth until it leap off back into the grasslands with its pink wings spread wide looking like a kite in the grass. |
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The view we gazed upon having our picnic lunch seated on flat large rocks on the edge of the cliff. On the opposite side we look upon our favorite play ground that being the Iron Crown and The Western Heights which have the most beautiful vista's and flowers. |
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Anne taking in all the wonders of the world which grows on rocks. Here we find species such Crassula, Albuca, Rhipsalis, Eulophia, Tridacyle as well as Burchella amongst other hardy species. How these plants thrive with no soil, in the harshest of environments and in scorching temperatures leaves one to marvel nature. |
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Anne on the edge of the reserve looking down at the Bulolo River below.
The Alberta magna was still in flower and the Bridelia micrantha was eye-catching with its orange leaves that rustled in the breeze. The delicate Psoralea arborea grew among the thicket of bracken. |
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Psoralea arborea
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| Tracey fiercely removing Clusia rosea out of the rocks. |
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| Tracey, our fierce nature protector removing Clusia rosea that was growing in the crevice of a rock in the reserve. It's an invasive in Brazil, India and South Africa and comes from from Sri Lanka. |
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| Lasiosiphon triplinervis |
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| Lotononis meyeri |
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| Ochna serrulata |
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| Ochna serrulata |
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| Ochna serrulata gall |
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| Ochna serrulata |
At one stage after lunch we had considered botanizing from Beacon Hill and as we began our migration up the grassy hillside with heads looking down at our feet the rocks appeared and we got lost in time as we filtered around them and explored on-top of them. Tracey excitedly called us to come and see a Burchellia bubalina that shyly grew behind a rock and was the unusual colour of "yellow". It was truly beautiful. The Ochna had begun to flower and the scent of a Tryicalysia capensis wafted up perfuming the air. Spring was here.
There a lovely plateau and there we found Eriosema umtamvunense growing in the coastal grass land, Callilepis laureola, Dianthus mooiensis, Ruellia glomerata, Raphionacme, Agathosma ovata, Helichrysum ecklonis, Afroaster and Hebenstretia dura were all making this a field of flowers. We took it all in, appreciating everything that grew around us and meandered contently and happily home.
Gail Bowers-Winters, Alf Hayter, Tracey Taylor,
Anne Skelton and Dorothy McIntyre
“All our wisdom is stored in the trees.”
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Sincerest thanks to all those who made this blog possible.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.
