The genus Wachendorfia consists of four species found exclusively in the Greater Cape Floristic Region. All four of them also occur at Phillipskop. The genus is easily identified on account of the strongly pleated lanceolate leaves, and many-flowered inflorescences of apricot to yellow flowers. A more unusual feature of Wachendorfia…
Midsummer on the Klein River Mountains sees the arrival of purple clumps of Pseudoselago pulchra. This species must count as one of the most beautiful of the fynbos members of the family Scrophulariaceae and its name reflects that (“pulchra” is the Latin for beautiful). It produces dense domed heads of…
Succulent plants are somewhat rare in fynbos, especially compared to the Karoo to the north. But the stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, has a number of fynbos species. Most of these produce small flowers, pollinated by bees or even smaller insects. Two species though, Crassula fascicularis and Crassula coccinea, have large flowers…
A curious aspect of living amongst the Cape Flora is that we sometimes forget how special some of our commoner plants actually are. A case in point is Saltera sarcocolla. This species is found widely across the whole of the Klein River Mountains. It is found both at low and…
The bright pink Ixia stricta, with its contrasting yellow anthers, appears towards the end of the season of spring bulbs in the Overberg. The stem is very thin and delicate, like most Ixia species, yet it holds itself quite upright. From this habit it gets its name, “stricta”. Stricta is…
The Bloukanol, Aristea bakeri and Aristea capitata, are two plants that no-one can miss when the the flowers are open. Standing proud of the fynbos, they produce tall spikes of large deep blue flowers. This has given them another common name, Blouvuurpyl or Blue Rocket. No other fynbos plant comes…
