Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog: Western Heights -

We met at Beacon Hill the sky's predicted doom but there is no cloud that is dark enough to ward us off from botanizing and no soul too old to not embrace the day and charge forward and so cheer we heaved ourselves up in a high bukkie knowing fully well that we could be drenched and the vessel we found ourselves sitting in which offered no shelter nor comfort could become a pool in which we would find ourselves like floating fish. We set off being bumped about over dirt wet roads and observed that degraded sugar-cane fields that once were prime where slowly rehabilitating themselves even though they were being grazed by cattle. We'd never seen Dissotis canescens flower in such vast fields. They have appreciated the high-water table.

As we drove into the reserve one's eye's which would normally want to look at animals searched for flowers and what a sight we saw. Pachycarpus grandiflorus subsp. grandiflorus which is our endemic flowered in colonies and we could easily count to ten. Tephrosia polystachya stood out in mass. They looked like the Southern Cross scattered in the veld.

On the forest's edge we found the Homalium rufescens, a South African endemic and a tree we seldom come across. Once in the forest we came encountered Premna mooiensis which is also known as the Skunk bush, and Skunk bush it was. It's certainly not going to make it into the perfumery industry other than to ward off another.

We came across Cryptocarya myrtifolia which is Vulnerable A2cd and one's eye caught the blue tinge on the under-side of the leaves. Eugenia erythrophylla is Near Threatened B1ab(iii,v) and a lot of laughs came as the Eugenia species are causing a lot of head scratching and headaches. Dorothy pointed out the hairy pockets in the vein axils of Chionanthus foveolatus subsp. tomentellus and the forest floor was scattered with the rare Faurea macnaughtonii. Rinorea domatiosa is also one of our rare and endemic species in South Africa.

In the forest we came across two species of Streptocarpus and the Rhipidoglossum xanthopollinium where in flower. Attached to the rock surface flowered the gentle Stenoglottis fimbriata subsp. fimbriata.

This truly is a special reserve and what a privilege it is to be able to explore it with women and men of wisdom who are willing to share their knowledge. We are all students no matter the age if one's willing to learn and grow.