This species is sometimes regarded as a subspecies of D. microspermus. It occurs in the Kenhardt district of Namaqualand. The pictures were taken in early Sept. 2010.
Author: Frans Noltee
Pelargonium longifolium
Many of the more interesting Pelargoniums are geophytes*. The fact that they are hidden part of the year somehow adds to their appeal. The species shown here is very variable as to the shape and size of its leaves, which can be undivided or finely dissected and smooth or hairy. The beautiful flowers may be white, pale yellow or pink and appear from October to December.
The photos were taken last Saturday directly behind my house, where the plants grow in open or lightly vegetated sandy patches as well as on rocky outcrops. Actually the first ones I noticed were growing in an open Eucalytus coppice there.
* Plants which store water and/or food in underground storage organs and die down each year, regenerating at the start of the new growing season from buds that are hidden below soil-level.
Mesembryanthemum eurystigmatum (2)
When you look carefully at the following three pictures, you will see that the plant here is reduced to just a flower. As long as this is able to close the circle from seed to seed all is fine. These are annual plants, remember.
The last two pictures are basically the same. The first of the two shows a bit of the background as well, whereas in the last one the camera was tilted a bit downwards, so that attention is focused completely on the flower. I cannot really say one picture is better than the other; it depends on what story you want it to tell.
Mesembryanthemum eurystigmatum (Eurystigma clavatum) 1
These annuals occur in enormous numbers in disturbed places in the Ceres Karoo. The flowers are up to 6 cm across and appear in September.
To be continued.
Lithops divergens v. divergens
Photographed 9 Sept. 2010 in the northern Knersvlakte.
Drosanthemum speciosum in a different guise
In my first post on this species, I referred to the fact that the flowers not only came in red, but also in orange. As I had never seen these in the wild, I could not show you a picture. In my former garden I even had a plant with yellow flowers, but as it originated from a nursery I could not be sure it was not a cultivar. So it would not be fair to show you a picture pretending it was of a wild plant.
I also mentioned that the plants are often seen along roads, but again I had no picture to substantiate this.
As it happens, I was on an outing yesterday that took me to the Ouberg pass, northeast of Montagu. Lots of flowering D. speciosum there, but non of them in red or scarlet as usual.
They were all orange,
apart from a few almost pure yellow ones.
As a bonus, there was also a specimen growing almost in the road.
After three consecutive posts on one species, I will not mention it for a while now. Promise.
Drosanthemum speciosum, seen with different eyes
Yesterday I showed you some documentary type of pictures.
Confronted with all these beautiful flowers, it was clearly a waste of opportunities to not have another and different look at them. Although we talk about looking at things with different eyes, in reality we should call it looking with a different (part of the) brain.
In a case like this I usually have to take a deliberate decision to let the right hemisphere of my brain take over.
Once you are in that mode, it is sometimes difficult to stop; it is almost like being in a feeding frenzy. Anyway, I came home with a lot of pictures , many of which were very similar. This to me is one of the beauties of digital photography: the fact that there is no need to restrict yourself to taking a few pictures. Mind you, I’m not endorsing an attitude of just mindlessly taking lots of snapshots hoping that some of them will turn out right. (Recently I saw that nicely described as “point and pray”). But I do think that often it is good to “go with the flow”.
Below you will find a couple of pictures that for one reason or other seem worth showing to you.
The first three pictures give a general idea of the abundance of colour in these flowers.
The second pair shows a more deliberate approach. It’s a case of ” can you spot the difference(s)? “.
I found the old fruit in the first picture a bit disturbing, so I removed it before taking the second one. On reflection, I think that the fruit adds interest to an otherwise somewhat empty space in the picture. The fact that it also gives some extra information seems to me less important in this kind of picture.
The next photo was slightly cropped in post production, resulting in a very balanced image. For some of us probably even a bit too balanced and formal.
We end with a picture that I like because of the cheeky way a few of the petals refuse to follow the general pattern.
Drosanthemum speciosum
These plants, which may become up to 80 cm tall, are locally abundant from Worcester to Barrydale in the western Little Karoo and are often seen along roads.
The many flowers are about 5 cm across and usually flaming scarlet or red, although more subtle orangey colours also occur; they are present in late winter and spring (May-October).
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In the next post I will show you some more flowers, photographed in a somewhat different way.
Peersia frithii
Peersia is a genus of only 3 species. They used to be included in Rhinephyllum, but the leaves miss the rough surface which is typical for the latter genus. They have a strangely S-shaped distribution area from the northern tip of the Western Cape, southwards to near Touwsrivier and from there eastward to the western part of the Eastern Cape.
The flowering plants were photographed 3 Nov. 2012, northeast of Prince Albert, the other two 9 Jan 2006, north of Laingsburg.
Stomatium suricatinum
These plants take their name from suricats, because of the upright position of the leaves. The pictures were all taken along the road from Aneysberg reserve to Laingsburg, between end of March and mid August.
