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…
Whatever time of the year you visit Phillipskop there is a wide variety of beautiful flowers to see. However, because of the diversity, it can sometimes become bewildering even to know where to start. We have therefore created a series of Plant Spotter Guides for Phillipskop to help guests and…
From a distance, the fynbos in springtime lights up with golden splashes as though the sun is shining through gaps in the cloud. These bright yellow patches are created by conebush proteas, Leucadendron. In the Klein River Mountains, the most common species is Leucadendron xanthoconus. “Xanthoconus” means yellow cone and…
The Green Heath, Erica sessiliflora, is one of the unmistakable heathers of the fynbos. With over 600 species of Erica in the fynbos of the Cape Floristic Region it is not surprising to find that each species will share at least some characters in common with other species. Erica sessiliflora…
Not all special plants are bold and beautiful. We found this Wurmbea glassii the other day. It is no more than a couple of centimetres high. The minute flowers are a greenish yellow and it took a second-look to realise that we were not looking at a small grass or…
Despite their name the majority of everlasting flowers are finished by mid-summer. They remain on the bush but their glory has faded. The autumn-flowering Syncarpha canescens, Pienksewejaartjie, however starts flowering in April and continues on into July. It is not as bold and noticeable in the fynbos as its cousins,…
