Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog

Monday, 15 August 2016

A brief grassland sojourn at Oribi Flats

As we were up at Oribi Flats with a little time to spare, Kate and I decided to pay our grassland patches a quick visit to see what had emerged since our last visit at the beginning of July this year. There has been good rain in the interim and the flowers were showing their appreciation.

Probably the most prominent of these (apart from the Berkheyas) was Euphorbia natalensis.

Euphorbia natalensis

Another interesting find was several clumps of Callilepis leptophylla. This species has a disjunct distribution with the bulk of the population in the north-east of the country; it is far less common in the Pondoland region than Callilepis laureola, and so far, we have only recorded it in the Oribi Flats area.

Callilepis leptophylla

The first of this season's Cyanotis speciosa was proudly showing off its yellow sparks protruding from a cluster of pink fluff - always an eye-catching display.

Cyanotis speciosa

The first of the Indigofera grata shrubs were starting to flower. In a week or so these small shrubs should be spectacular.

Indigofera grata

Other pink flowers out in these patches were Oxalis semiloba and Vigna unguiculata.

Oxalis semiloba

Vigna unguiculata

We also saw the occasional Argyrolobium rotundifolium with its yellow-turning-orange flowers.

Argyrolobium rotundifolium

Along the back road to Izingolweni (much drier valley bushveld than we normally explore) we found a Schotia brachypetala bursting with buds and a little further along were several Buddleja dysophylla in flower - the first time we have seen this species in the field.

Schotia brachypetala

Buddleja dysophylla

Participants: Graham G, Kate G.

Western Heights with a Millenium Seed Bank team

Dineo Dibakwane from the Millenium Seed Bank (MSB) and colleagues from Pietermaritzburg had arranged to visit our area hoping to collect seeds from some of the plants we had found recently on our walks on the Western Heights so that is where we headed on Thursday morning. It was not long before we found an endemics in fruit - Eriosema umtamvunense - although the fruits were still immature. One of Dineo's target species was Helichrysum ecklonis and we fortunately managed to find several inflorescenses which still contained seeds. Some of the other target species like Utricularia sandersonii had all but disappeared - certainly there were no fruits to be collected.

Drimia elata

There were not many flowers so it was encouraging to find Drimia elata, a widespread species but Red Listed as DDT, perhaps because of taxonomic uncertainty. We walked over areas which we had covered in earlier visits in the hope of finding more species on Dineo's wishlist, but most of the seeds had already been dispersed. We could nevertheless show her old cones on Leucadendron spissifolium subsp. oribinum, a PCE endemic.

Kate set off across the next valley to see if there were fruit on the Senecio species we found some weeks back and believed to be a new species but found nothing.

Kate off to look for seeds of an undescribed species of Senecio

Pondoland CREW with MSB visitors

On the way back to Beacon Hill we stopped along the track to check some Aspalathus dahlgrenii. These had viable fruits and a collection was made for the MSB. A little further along Leucadendron spissifolium subsp. natalense (another endemic) was in flower.

Aspalathus dahlgrenii

Leucadendron spissifolium subsp. natalense

Participants: Anne S, Dineo D, Dorothy M, Graham G, Kate G, Khaya M, Maggie A, Mbuso Z, Mervyn T.

Saturday, 6 August 2016

Hazel Ridge and Hidden Valley

On a chilly and windy morning we set off to walk to Hazel Ridge, a place in the Umtamvuna reserve which we last visited more than a year ago. This section of grassland has not yet been burned and there was little to see apart from some seed heads of Lopholaena dregeana, so we hastened to get out of the wind and descended towards Hazel Ridge.

Lopholaena dregeana

As we approached the ridge, looking back into the forested stream below us we could see a prominent Syzygium gerrardii bearing a good crop of fruits above the canopy. As we worked (hacked) our way along the unused trail we were identifying the trees alongside us: these included Eugenia erythrophylla, Loxostylis alata, Canthium vanwykii, Cassipourea malosana, Cryptocarya wyliei, and many Maytenus acuminata, and of course Trichocladus crinitus (Black Hazel) after which this part of the UNR is named. We eventually dropped down to a beautiful tranquil stream where we decided to stop for lunch.

The tranquil stream

A small cascade provides habitat for a Clivia robusta colony

Climbing out of this gorge heading inland we emerged again into grassland to overlook what has been called Hidden Valley, probably because of the relatively difficult access. Seeing a game path below us we worked our way down the slope and explored the forest edge. Here we saw the yellow flowers of the climbing creeper Acridocarpus natalitius and Erianthemum dregei with flowers just starting to open, as well as Lauridia tetragona with sparse open flowers.

Acridocarpus natalitius

Erianthemum dregei

Lauridia tetragona

This is an area which most of us have not visited previously and looks interesting enough for a further visit and perhaps a chance to find a way into the forest.