The bright pink Ixia stricta, with its contrasting yellow anthers, appears towards the end of the season of spring bulbs in the Overberg. The stem is very thin and delicate, like most Ixia species, yet it holds itself quite upright. From this habit it gets its name, “stricta”. Stricta is…
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…
The Pine Emperor Moth (Nudaurelia cytherea) is one of the largest moths in Southern Africa, but it is the caterpillars that are especially impressive. Reaching some 10-12cm in length and almost 2cm in diameter, they are covered with a myriad of colourful spots that look like lights on a Christmas…
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…
Members of the genus Berzelia are popular as indigenous cut-flowers. They are easily recognisable as they have clusters of numerous small ball-shaped flowerheads. But identifying the species within the genus is another matter. The commonest species in the south-western Cape is Berzelia lanuginosa, which grows and often dominates wet marshy…
