We met following Anne's pin drop to a farm called Blencathera which we used to gain a short cut into the Umtumvuna Nature Reserve and with deafening skwarks coming from a caged Macow on the farmers property it was good to escape the cry's coming from the bird.
Anne had wanted to see if the Burchellia bubalina that we had a few years ago that had a yellow flower was in flower but we were a little too soon and so tentively followed the trail that lead into the forest first admiring the Haemanthus albiflos that secretly grew hidden in the rocks. Disa baurii have been quite prolific in their flowering and scattered far and wide throughout the reserve, their gentle little beards protuding from their blue bonnets. Halleria lucida flowers were forming into berries and soon the birds would be sitting on the branches feasting away at the deliceous fruits. Albuca setosa with it's apt name of a Soldier-in-the-Box or more like a Soldier-on-the-Rocks was pushing it's stripped green and white head out, a hardly little plant that brings Gail great joy when seeing.
Nuxia floribunda was in full flower with bees sipping the delicous nectar and not at all worried about us being around. Xymalos monospora had managed to survive with it's hollowed out trunk which if a small child passed I'm sure would love to sit in and play hide and seek.
To touch Combretum edwardsii was a joy in itself, so soft and woolley. Hearing Ushi take in a deep breath excitidly when looking at Oricia bachmannii saying "Look how beautiful it looks!" which made one look up and realise that this was a woman who was passionate about trees for a leaf was definately not an ordinary leaf to her.
The sheer size of Oxyanthus speciosus subsp. gerrardii was remarkable, one's hands simply dissappeared under the sheer scale of this giant leaf and the two trees that are not often seen that we saw today was Micrococca capensis and Rawsonia lucida. Tracy and Gail always thought how cool it would be to have camo pants that looked like the bark of an Ochna, but Rawsonia lucida may even be prettier.
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| Tephrosia grandiflora Pink Bush Pea FABACEAE |
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| Tephrosia grandiflora Pink Bush Pea FABACEAE C.R.E.W. heading out into the reserve through the Blencathera farm. |
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| Ursinia tenuiloba ASTERACEAE |
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| Disa baurii ORCHIDACEAE |
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| Ushi, Dorothy, Maggie and Gail, heading down into the forest. Photo credit: Tracy |
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| Albuca setosa Soldier-in-the-box HYACINTHACEAE |
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| Argyrolobium harveyanum FABACEAE |
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| Indigofera herrstreyi subsp herrstreyi ( name as yet unpublished) FABACEAE |
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| Halleria lucida STILBACEAE |
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| Haemanthus albiflos AMARYLLIDACEAE |
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| Lotononis meyeri FABACEAE |
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| Alberta magna's calyx's Magnificent-flame RUBIACEAE |
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| Ushi and Tracy going through field notes together. |
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| Osteospermum imbricatum ASTERACEAE |
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| Osteospermum imbricatum ASTERACEAE |
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| Athrixia phylicoides Bush Tea ASTERACEAE |
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| Lasiosiphon triplinervis (Gnidia triplinervis) THYMELAEACEAE |
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| C.R.E.W. |
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| Dorothy eager to head into the forest. |
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| Nuxia floribunda Forest Elder STILBACEAE |
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| Nuxia floribunda Forest Elder STILBACEAE |
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| Investigating the forest edge and looking at the canopy of the trees. |
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| Transkei on the left, Ngeli at the back and Western Heights on the right. |
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| Mtamvuna River |
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| Maggie with an ancient Protorhus longifolia trunk that's trunking up just like an elephants. |
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| Dorothy exploring the rocks that have created a cave. |
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| Huge rocks that have fallen onto one another over time. |
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| Maggie being gentle with herself. |
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| Ushi and Anne Photo credit: Tracy
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| Rawsonia lucida trunk Forest-peach ACHARIACEAE |
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| Rawsonia lucida Forest-peach ACHARIACEAE |
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| Tracy finding a very old and forgotten blow-up raft in the forest! |
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| Buxus natalensis Large-leaved Box BUXACEAE
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| Oricia bachmannii Twin-berry Tree RUTACEAE |
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| Oricia bachmannii Twin-berry Tree RUTACEAE |
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| Cassipourea malosana Onionwood RHIZOPHORACEAE |
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| Carissa bispinosa APOCYNACEAE |
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| Combretum edwardsii (woolly to touch) Forest Climbing Bushwillow COMBRETACEAE |
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| Ushi and Tracy having a look at a Southern Whipstick Loquat with Dorothy quietly observing. |
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| Oxyanthus speciosus subsp. gerrardii Southern Whipstick Loquat RUBIACEAE |
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| Maggie handing Dorothy her phone showing her the bunch of flowers (Strelitzia reginae) that Craig gave to her when Ken passed. |
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| Micrococca capensis False Bead-string EUPHORBIACEAE |
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| Micrococca capensis False Bead-string EUPHORBIACEAE |
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| Psoralea glabra Narrow-leaf Fountain-bush FABACEAE |
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| Heading back. |
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| Bersama swinnyi Coastal White Ash MELIANTHACEAE |
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| Pondoland C.R.E.W. Maggie Abbott, Tracy Taylor, Gail Bowers-Winters, Dorothy McIntyre, Uschi Teicher and Anne Skelton "To be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life." - John Burroughs. |
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