Month: July 2019

Stomatium alboroseum

Whereas nearly all species of Stomatium have yellow flowers, here – as the name implies- the flowers are white to pink.  They are about 2.5 cm across and heavily scented; they begin to open only near sunset. The flowering period is stated as August to December.
The plants vary from compact and somewhat dome-shaped to flattish and forming mats up to 8 cm in diameter with age.
The leaves are spoon-shaped to trigonous, 2-2.5 long, about 1 cm long and about 0.7 cm thick; they have an inconspicuous keel, wavy margins with 3-6 small white, teeth-like warts and a very rough skin.
Occurring on sandy flats or pans with a high content of lime in Namaqualand and southwestern Bushmanland.

 

 

Orbea variegata

Common names: Boekies, Bokhoring, Aasblom, Toad plant, Cape Fritillary, Carrion flower.

This was the first stapeliad to reach Europe from South Africa, which probably at least partly explains the enormous number of synonyms. It is also one of the most widely cultivated stapeliads and is found in many subtropical areas as a garden escapee.
In the wild it is widespread in the southwestern Cape, mainly along the coast from Lambert’s Bay to Humansdorp, but also in the southern Great Karoo as well as the Little Karoo. It generally occurs on stony slopes, often under shrubs.

The stems are mostly erect, to 15 x 1 cm (excluding the teeth), obtuse or conspicuously 4-angled,
green with purple-brown markings. They form clumps usually up to 20 cm across, but sometimes up to over 1 m.
The flowers appear in Dec.-Sept., usually one per stem. They smell of carrion, which attracts the flies by which they are pollinated. The corolla is 4.5-8 cm in diameter and very variable in colour: inside cream to greenish-yellow, with rather large, purple-brown dots; the annulus is usually paler yellow and more finely dotted.

Photos taken 13 March 2019 on Zolani-Bonnievale road.

Crassula elegans ssp. elegans

This widespread and often locally common taxon occurs from southwestern Namibia to near Vanrhynsdorp on sandy/ gravelly/rocky slopes and flats, often under bushes.

It is a dwarf plant 1-8 cm tall, usually with many short branches and forming small tufts.
As shown by the pictures, the leaves are highly variable in shape, size, colour and texture; they are very thick, 0.3-1.5 x 0.3-1 cm in size and usually egg- to lance-shaped with blunt tips, green, grey-green, brown to deep red, sometimes even white.
Most often the leaves are smooth, but sometimes covered with papillae or fine hairs. They are irregularly arranged (not in 4 obvious ranks), with invisible internodes; eventually they shrivel up completely but they remain attached to the stems.
The small flowers are cream or white and appear in Dec.-June.

 

 

 

 

 

Mesembryanthemum barklyi (olifantsoutslaai)

Plants of this species are the largest in the genus and are sometimes nicknamed “elephant’s toilet paper” because of the enormous leaves. As a rule, they occur on sandy plains in southwestern Namibia and northwestern Namaqualand.
Although their lifespan is usually not more than two years, they may reach a height of 1.5 m.
At first, the plant forms a rosette of leaves with flowering side branches, after which the internodes in the rosette elongate and form new rosettes and flowering branches.
Usually the stems are clearly 4-angled and winged, up to as much as 4 cm in diameter.
The leaves are egg-shaped to triangular, with more or less undulating margins; they are very large (lower ones up to 40 x 25 cm), with small bladder-cells.
Flowers appear in Sept.-Nov.; they are 4-6 cm across, pink to pale pink, with a white or slightly green base and very numerous petals, staminodes and stamens. The fruits have 5 compartments.