It was ideal weather to botanize. We met at Red Desert which is an internationally protected heritage site. With its red soils it is often described as a miniature version of the Arizona Desert. It is the world’s smallest desert which lies 10 km west of the Port Edward town and is 20m in diameter and 11 hectares in its entirety. With the excitement of orchids awakening we set forth and covering very little area we found a plethora of flowers beneath our feet.
With the area having been burnt it was easy to navigate, the only area a little tricky was that of the marsh lands and one found oneself walking like a Gymkhana on the raised areas where one was very grateful it hadn't been raining for this would have been totally inaccessible unless walking in waders and then we knew that we would have found ourselves falling onto our bottoms with a lot of laughter happening amongst ourselves. This was the areas where the orchids like to grow and we found Satyrium longicauda and Disa similis growing amongst Kyllinga alba and Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus. The other orchids we came across were Eulophia hians var. hians and Eulophi parviflora.
In this marshy area we found the endangered Senecio natalicola looking equally as magnificent as sunflower are. The veld was awash in yellow which would make every pollinator deliriously happy with such a choice to choose from and little bee's as happy as Mia the Bee pollinated Lotononis bachmanniana looking as if they were wearing woolly gumboots with their legs heavy laddened with pollen. We saw both Ledebouria coopri and Ledebouria revoluta flowering in the wet land.
The Boophone disticha had set their heavy balls in seed and Scadoux punicus was both in flower and in seed.
The fields of yellow were of Berkeys speciosa, Berkeya insignis and Berkey umbellata, Senecio bupleuroides and Senecio glaberrimus.
We came across Ophioglossum retiulatum which is fern and growing in close proximity was Eriospepernum mackeii which can look pretty similar to an amateur botanist. It was an interesting observation.
Gerbera piloselloides grew erectly in the grasslands with its hairy stalk and mustard head. Thesium natalense looked as if they were on steroids. Miniature white heads that when looking under a magnifying glass look like cotton wool. They looked as if they had had snow falling on them.
With the sun directly above our heads we found some rocks on which we sat to have our lunch gazing down at the Merwilla plumbea and Bulbine asphodeloides. We looked up to find Matt Williams, the owner of the farm come to say hello and to see what we had found. We jumped across the stream and on the slopes we found Xymalobium involucratum, Asclepias praemorsa and Raphionacme galpinii flowering. A little further up the delicate Polygala gracilenta. Graceful it certainly was. Sencio variabilis with its blue heads was certainly eye catching and like Scabiosa columbaria it has dimorphic leaves. Dorothy brought our attention to the miniscule flowers on Gnidia nodiflora, again something only to be appreciated under a magnifying glass and easy to walk past without observing.
It certainly was a wonderful day botanzing with friends amongst fields of flowers.
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| Senecio natalicola ASTERACEAE Endangered B1ab(iii) |
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| Pelargonium luridum GERANIACEAE |
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| Gnidia nodiflora THYMELAEACEAE |
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| Helichrysum griseum ASTERACEAE |
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| Eriosema kraussianum |
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| Afroaster serrulatus ASTERACEAE |
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| Polygala gracilenta POLYGALACEAE |
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| Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus AMARYLLIDACEAE |
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| Our dear Maggie wading through the marshlands. |
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| Looking for orchids in the marsh. |
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| Satyrium longicauda ORCHIDACEAE |
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| Eulophia hians var. hians ORCHIDACEAE |
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| Disa similis ORCHIDACEAE
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| Kyllinga alba CYPERACEAE |
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| Anne walking between the Syzigium cordatum's. |
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| Thesium natalense SANTALACEAE |
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| Gladiolus longicollis IRIDACEAE |
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| Asparagus africanus ASPARAGACEAE |
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| Xysmalobium involucratum APOCYNACEAE |
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| Coleus hadiensis (Plectranthus hadiensis) LAMIACEAE |
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| Hilliardiella hirsuta Quilted-leaved Vernonia ASTERACEAE |
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| Asclepias praemorsa APOCYNACEAE  |
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| Raphionacme galpinii APOCYNACEAE |
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| Seed head. |
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| Gladiolus longicollis IRIDACEAE |
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| Matt and Anne |
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| Merwilla plumbea Blue Squill HYACINTHACEAE Near Threatened A2bd |
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| Bulbine asphodeloides ASPHODELACEAE |
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| Ledebouria revoluta HYACINTHACEAE |
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| Berkheya umbellata ASTERACEAE |
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| Hilliardiella elaeagnoides Vernonia oligocephala Bicoloured Vernonia ASTERACEAE |
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| Dimorphic leaves |
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| Scabiosa columbaria DIPSACACEAE |
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| Afroaster hispidus ASTERACEAE  |
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| Berkheya insignis ASTERACEAE |
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| Berkheya speciosa ASTERACEAE |
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| Gerbera piloselloides ASTERACEAE |
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| Tracy, our second Meerkat. |
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| Callilepis laureola Ox-eye Daisy ASTERACEAE |
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| Convolvulus natalensis CONVOLVULACEAE |
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| Eriosema salignum FABACEAE |
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| Dyschoriste burchellii ACANTHACEAE |
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| Scadoxus puniceus Snake Flower AMARYLLIDACEAE |
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| Boophone disticha seed head AMARYLLIDACEAE |
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| Eriosema preptum FABACEAE South African endemic |
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| Lotononis bachmanniana FABACEAE Near Threatened A4c; B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) |
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| Ledebouria cooperi HYACINTHACEAE |
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| Eriospermum mackenii RUSCACEAE |
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| Senecio oxyriifolius False Nasturtium ASTERACEAE  |
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| Argyrolobium tuberosum Little Russet Pea FABACEAE |
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| Senecio glaberrimus ASTERACEAE |
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| Gerbera ambigua ASTERACEAE |
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| Aristea sp. |
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| Ocimum obovatum subsp. obovatum Cat's Whiskers LAMIACEAE  |
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| Hibiscus aethiopicus MALVACEAE |
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| Eugenia albanensis MYRTACEAE |
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| Bulbine aspholaloides ASPHODELACEAE |
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| Senecio bupleuroides ASTERACEAE |
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| Hypoxis hemerocallidea Yellow Star HYPOXIDACEAE |
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| Ophioglossum reticulatum Ferns OPHIOGLOSSACEAE |
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| C.R.E.W. |
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| Chlorophytum saundersiae Weeping Anthericum AGAVACEAE |
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| Commelina erecta COMMELINACEAE |
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| Aspidoglossum carinatum Synonym: Schizoglossum carinatum APOCYNACEAE |
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| Heliophila elongata BRASSICACEAE  |
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| Senecio variabilis ASTERACEAE
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| Flowers flowers everwhere! |
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| Pondoland C.R.E.W. Gail Bowers-Winters, Tracy Taylor, Mathew Williams, Dorothy McIntyre, Anne Skelton, Debbie King, Maggie Abbott and Alf Hayter. "Even though a flower's life is but a short while, it leaves a significant impact on the world". - Unknown |
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