February and March are the months for April Fools at Phillipskop. Or to be more helpful, they are the months when two different species, Haemanthus coccineus and Haemanthus sanguineus, come into flower. Both are commonly known as April Fools, though the name is not especially apt as they are frequently…
In the shimmering heat of summer, the spikes of Watsonia schlechteri appear as beacons amongst the fynbos. Often producing a single spike of up to 30 large trumpet-shaped lurid orange-scarlet flowers, the individual plants can be spotted from considerable distance across the mountain slopes. While this certainly attracts the attention…
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…
It is not just animals that are nocturnal, some flowers also come into their own as dusk gathers. Hesperantha radiata is one of these flowers. During daylight hours, the dark red outer petals are closed firmly around the anthers and style. The flowers are almost invisible to a passerby and…
Snowdrops in Europe are renowned for appearing in depths of winter. The drooping white flowers push their way through the snow. Cape Snowdrops, Crassula capensis, reminded the early European settlers of these popular flowers, though the snow was inevitably lacking. Cape Snowdrops appear mostly from May to July (at least…
Bright yellow Autumn Stars, Empodium plicatum, are common around the self-catering cottages and elsewhere on the reserve. They appear down at ground level, usually before the leaves emerge, at the end of April. The six petals are finely pointed, radiating from the centre like the arms of a star. In…
