Month: September 2019

Vanzijlia annulata

There is only a single species in the genus Vanzijlia, occurring in sand along the west coast, from Saldanha to Hondeklipbay and inland towards Clanwilliam on loam.

The plants form small tangled shrubs, with branches creeping or growing upwards into other shrubs. They have dimorphic leaf pairs:
– a smaller, nearly completely fused pair which is oblong or spherical, with or without small free points to the leaves
– a larger pair in which the leaves are more or less cylindrical or semi-cylindrical and only fused at the base (often inflated there).
The pale pink to white flowers are solitary, 2.5 to 6 cm in diameter and appear in late autumn to winter (May-September). After pollination they develop into capsules with 9 or 10 compartments.

Euphorbia schoenlandii (Noordpol)

With its robust columns up to 1.3 m tall and up to 20 cm in diameter, this species is often easily spotted from far away. Its distribution area is southern Namaqualand, where it occurs on sandy/loamy flats.
The stems are simple or rarely branched and have large hexagonal tubercles and short-lived leaves. They are decorated with sharp hard spines which are derived from sterile peduncles and up to 5 cm long.
The inflorescences (cyathia) are usually solitary on short peduncles and appear in April-June.

E. fasciculata is similar, but much smaller and does not have sharp pointed spines.


A rare crested specimen

Hope for the future

 

Stomatium suaveolens

Stomatium is one of the few genera of the Aizoaceae with obviously scented flowers. This species even derives its name from that fact (suaveolens = with a sweet smell).
The plants form compact, flat to somewhat rounded clumps with rough leaves which are 1-2 cm long, 0.9-1.5 cm wide and 0.7-0.9 cm thick.
Usually the yellow flowers appear in May-July; they are to 1.5 cm in diameter and open in the evening.
The species occurs on flat rock slabs (see first picture) in the Fraserburg – Sutherland – Williston area, where severe frost is a normal phenomenon in winter.
In the second picture you may also spot Crassula corallina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haworthia maraisii v. maraisii

The pictures below were made on the edge of a Eucalyptus forest a few hundred meters from my home. As is usual for them, the plants occur here on rocky outcrops, well hidden in patches of coarse sand or between stones.
They slowly form small groups of rosettes. Each rosette is 4 -7 cm in diameter, consisting of few to many, dark green to brown leaves which are usually flat above and rough with raised tubercles; the margins and keel are decorated with small spines.
In March- May the plants produce inflorescences up to 30 cm tall with white flowers (often with a yellow throat).


Accompanied by Adromischus filicaulis ssp. marlothii