The toothbrush fern, Schizaea pectinata, is one of the most unusual ferns in South Africa if not the world. Indeed, it looks more like an odd sedge or strange grass than a fern. Most people recognise a fern by the many-divided segments that spread into a broad frond. But in…
Autumn sees the appearance of small white candles of Bulbinella trinervis scattered through the fynbos. Their slender columns of starry white flowers top a leafless flowering stem that looks just like the surrounding restios. The open flowers belie the genus’s close relationship to their bold bright cousin, the red-hot pokers,…
The common name vygie is used for members of the Aizoaceae with showy daisy-like flowers. The name, prounounced “fay-gh-ee”, comes from the Afrikaans for “little fig”. The seedpods do look rather fig-like, especially those belonging to the genus Carpobrotus, which are fleshy and have numerous small seeds inside. Most vygies…
It is difficult to capture on camera the essence of some plants. The flowers can be separated from the leaves, which might be hidden by surrounding foliage or the flowers may be so diffuse on a plant that one can only focus on a single flower at a time. One…
A waterlily needs no introduction. It must be one of the first plants that children become familiar with. Whether through reading fairy tales about princesses and frogs or Beatrix Potter’s Jeremy Fisher, a lily pad is standard ingredient of ponds in children’s books. Furthermore, waterlilies are a feature of ponds,…
Gladiolus is not the first flower that one thinks of when asked to name a flower with good scent. It is true that the large florists’ gladioli have no scent to speak of, but many of the smaller flowered species have very attractive scent. At this time of the year,…
