Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog

The day began rather unpredictably but the predictability was that it was Thursday and that meant botanising. Where we were going we didn't know and left that decision to be made as a group. Buyi needed to get some grass research done and Yvie jumped in to assist her. The weather the night before was thunderous to say the least. The heavens grumbled like an elephant in must and lightning flashed like a giant disco ball out at sea, all night long. Yvie's house had been struck on the second floor leaving concrete being blast out with its tiles. The majority of us were without electricity. Nature was fierce that night. Something was troubling the heavens.

Yvie

Yvie looking closely at grasses

Buyi studying grasses

Stiburus alopecuroides

Yvie, Anne and Buyi doing grass research

Anne taking a good look at what is going on.

Ctenium concinnum - The Piggly Wiggly Grass

Buyi

Yvie

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) encroaching the forest edge of the gully.

Our roses amongst the invasive bracken.

Girls studying

We went up to The Beacon and filtered down. The rocky areas are always interesting places to explore and our eyes fell onto the most glorious colours of the Psychotria capensis. Dorothy recommended that we tasted the black seeds and found ourselves having brunch. There was a little hesitation for some in tasting these black fruits but for others it was no problem. We also had a refreshment lesson on the five trees that have threads being in their leaves when snapping them apart, that being the Maytenus abbottii, Maytenus peduncularis, Maytenus cordata, Salacia gerrardii and Robsonodendron eucleiforme.

Psyhcotria capensis.

Anne, Buyi and Yvie went to study grass zones and bracken grew thickly in the gully of trees and invading the grass land. Watsonia pillansii was flowering. Anne spotted several Aloe myriacantha hiding in the grass near a rocky outcrop. The salmon colour was exquisite and to see the pollen hanging heavily off at the end of the petals was beautiful to admire. We looked at some trees and Anne taught us about the Podocarpus falcatus, what a scent the stem has. Gail thought it would be a lovely scent to have in the house.

Watsonia pillansii

Aloe myriacantha

Podocarpus falcatus

Osteospermum moniliferum

Erica cubica

Pimpinella caffra (Carrot family)

Tricalysia capensis had awakened and its small flowers filled the air with the most beautiful fragrance. One simply breathes in more deeply when seeing this small tree. The Cassipourea gummiflua had burst into flower too, their flowers quite inconspicuous that grew from its branches, one could easily not notice them.

Tricalysia capensis

Cassipourea gummiflua

Pools of water quenched the thirst of hardy islands of rock plants. Crassula ericoides subsp. ericoides grew bonsaied on rocks. Bulbine sp.nov has a hard time with baboons upturning the earth to get at grubs.

Bulbine sp. nov

Crassula ericoides subsp. ericoides

Thesium cupressoides

Yvie

Gail's hand showing the scale of the Secamone alpinii seed capsules.

Tarchonanthus trilobus var. trilobus

We sat on a large lovely rock looking down into the gorge, enjoying the cloud cover and watching threatening clouds wishing to sneeze upon us. Anne could hear something that wasn't welcoming to nature lovers. With further investigation we set forth only to find a bulldozer pushing over trees which had destroyed the fence of the boundary line and a farmer was claiming his territory in planting more Macadamia nut trees. One thinks about The Doctor Zeuss story of "The Lorax" and there's a lesson to be taught in that book. The moral of the story is a simple one. Respect the environment and environmental sustainability. Unrestrained commercial endeavours eventually spoil the natural world, leaving it a wasteland and unfit to support life.

Leonotis dubia

Habenaria woodii

Acraea serena

Anne investigating where the sound is coming from with the sound of crashing trees.

Indigofera herrstreyi sp nov.

Always interesting to see what plants can survive and grow in the harshest environments.

Dorothy taught us to differentiate Rhynchosia totta with its three leaflets from Zornia linearis that always has four leaflets. Dear Maggie gave us lesson in spelling which left us smiling in "There, their, where and were" and all the other English complications of constructing a sentence properly. Gail was always teased at how terrible her spelling was and ended up learning Latin botanical names. I think that's why the youth of today find "Emoji's" far more user friendly. Spelling can be as challenging as keeping up with the botanical name changes.