The small blue spikes of Micranthus plantagineus are unlike any other flower at Phillipskop. They appear from the end of November and continue to flower throughout December. The species name means that they are like a plantain, i.e. a member of the genus Plantago. Plants of that genus also have…
One of the most confusing generic names to any gardener is Geranium. Anyone familiar with temporary planting schemes will know the popular Bedding Geraniums. This is the rather misleading common name for hybrids of the genus Pelargonium (mainly derived from Pelargonium zonale). To distinguish them true Geranium are often called…
An enchanting aspect of studying fynbos is that you often don’t know what is there until it flowers. Many plants use similar life strategies to survive the harsh conditions and thus their habit and leaves can appear identical. So fynbos contains many shrubby plants with needle-like leaves, bulbous plants with…
We are all too familiar with modern marketing claims that boast about wonder drugs, but traditional herbal medicines were not immune from such exaggeration either. The so called Eight-day healing bush or Agtdaegeneesbos, Lobostemon, is a Cape member of the Borage family, Boraginaceae. There are about 28 species of Lobostemon,…
We are all familiar with the large showy flowers of proteas; some like the King Proteas are as large as dinner plates. But there are a range of proteas that are more discrete in their flowering, keeping their flowers tucked away at the base of their stems. These are the…
Hair can be an excellent identifying feature in plants as well as humans (and fortunately, plants don’t go round changing their hair style). It might be the presence or absence of hairs, or even the type of hairs, whether they are long or short, simple or star-shaped, or even glandular…
