Pincushion proteas (Leucospermum) count as some of the most popular members of the Protea family (Proteaceae) for cut-flowers. However, there are a number of members of the genus Leucospermum that will never find their way into a cut-flower bouquet. This is because their stems are weak and trailing and their…
Flies are not popular. Their propensity to land equally on your food and dead animals, or other less desirable objects, has given them the not unfair reputation for carrying germs. But for the Carrion Flower, Orbea variegata, attracting flies is exactly what it sets out to do. The large flat…
Say the word “gentian” and immediately a deep blue colour is conjoured up. But members of the gentian family, Gentianaceae, in South Africa are anything but blue. Chironia linoides is one of these members of the Gentianaceae and flowers at Phillipskop through the summer from November to January. Its flowers…
Merciera leptoloba is a member of the bellflower family, Campanulaceae. As the common family name suggests, most members of this family have bell-shaped flowers, i.e. with a broad tube. (Indeed, the scientific name is also based on the Latin for bell: campana.) But as in many families, there is a…
There are few true trees at Phillipskop but in the valley on our eastern boundary, one tree is common, the Rock Candlewood, Maytenus oleoides. Most trees are unable to survive the regular fires that sweep through fynbos every 10 to 20 years. Forest patches in the Cape are confined to…
Snow is practically unheard of in the Klein River Mountains but in spring time, patches of the hillside are turned snow white. The plant is a member of the daisy family called Syncarpha vestita. It is one of the Everlasting Flowers or Sewejaartjies, and this species is also commonly known…
