Frans Noltee

Lampranthus watermeyeri

In suitable climates, this robust shrub with its beautiful flowers would make a nice garden plant. In nature, the species is found on sandstone outcrops and in sandy soils on rocky slopes, from Hondeklipbaai to Lambert’s Bay and inland as far as Worcester.
The plants are sparsely branched, usually erect (up to 50 cm tall), but sometimes creeping. They have triangular to almost cylindrical leaves, 2-4 cm long and 0.5-0.6 cm in diameter.
The flowers have long stalks and are mostly solitary; they are up to 7 cm in diameter, usually white but sometimes pink or magenta, without staminodes; they appear in June-November.

Cheiridopsis peculiaris (eselore)

A peculiar species indeed and therefore easy to recognise.
The plants are up to 5 cm tall, usually with up to 3 branches. They form two types of leaf pairs: in the first one the leaves are flat and largely free. In the second pair they are upright and fused for more than half their length; this pair becomes dry and papery in summer, so that the new growth is protected from drying out.
The flowers very large (up to 6 cm in diameter) and appear in Aug.-Sept.

Found on shale flats and gneiss slopes in northern Namaqualand (from Springbok to north and west of Steinkopf), an area with 100-200 mm rainfall per year (in winter).

Quaqua (Caralluma) ramosa

Because of its unusual stems, this species is normally easy to recognise.
It occurs in the Little Karoo and the southwestern Great Karoo on lower stony slopes and hilltops, usually inside or next to other bushes.
The flowers appear normally in March-May, in small clusters near the top of the purplish to greyish green stems. They emit a strong smell of buck or sheep urine.

Quaqua (Caralluma) mammillaris

Of all species of Quaqua, this is the one with the widest distribution and also probably the best known.
The plants form vigorous clumps of up to 60 cm tall and wide.
Even when not in flower, the plants are usually easily recognised by their size and the hard, yellow-brown spines. The flowers appear in March-June and emit a very unpleasant smell.

Occurring in a great variety of habitats from southern Namibia to Rietbron in the Great Karoo and Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo.

Bijlia dilatata

This is one of the more easily recognized mesembs, only known from the Prince Albert area, where it occurs on flats and hills with broken dolerite and quartz gravel.
The old name Bijlia cana cannot be used anymore; vernacular names are Prince Albert vygie, pangavygie and skewevygie.
The plants grow in small clumps of smooth and hard, boat-like but very asymmetric leaves, which are almost as broad as thick in the upper half and pale greyish green to pinkish/yellowish white.
In July-August they produce bright yellow or orange-yellow, short-stalked flowers to about 3.5 cm in diameter.

Aloe longistyla (Karoo aloe, Karoo aalwyn, ramenas)

Unlike most other dwarf South African Aloes, this species is usually single, but sometimes 2 or 3 rosettes are formed and rarely even up to 10.
Each rosette consists of 20-30 greyish-green to bluish-green, waxy leaves, 12-15 cm long, with soft to hard white spines on both sides and on the margins.
The inflorescences are simple and dense, 15-25 cm tall with very thick stalks. The flowers are about 5.5 cm long (remarkably large for such a small plant) and have a very long style (=longistyla); they appear in June-August and are salmon pink to coral-red.

Usually growing in the shade of small shrubs, the plants occur on stony or sandy flats, sometimes on gentle slopes, from Laingsburg and the Little Karoo to Middelburg and Makhanda (= Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape. Unfortunately, the plants are short-lived and don’t grow well in cultivation, not even in the area where they occur naturally.

Pelargonium abrotanifolium (Klipmalva)

Both the appearance of the plant and the scent of the leaves remind one of southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum), hence the species name.
The species occurs widespread from Namaqualand to the Eastern Cape and the Free State, often on rocky outcrops.
Although the plants are usually smaller, they may reach a height of about a meter.
The branches are slender and woody, with softly hairy leaves that are pleasantly aromatic when crushed.
The flowering stems bear 1-5 flowers about 2 cm in diameter with white, pink or mauve petals decorated with red or purple veins. Flowers may appear almost throughout the year (especially after rain).

Pelargonium rapaceum (Bergaartappel, Bergpatat, Norretjie)

Occurring from the northern Richtersveld to the Eastern Cape Province, this is one of the most common of the tuberous Pelargoniums and also the one with the widest distribution. It is found in a wide range of habitats, from stony slopes and flats to farmland that has been left fallow; it can even quickly colonize disturbed areas.

The tubers are often partly exposed and usually turnip-shaped (= rapaceum); usually there is only a single tuber, but sometimes a string of additional tubers is formed so that the plants can become quite large.
The softly hairy leaves are up to 40 cm long and 4.5 cm wide.
In October – February the plants produce branching peduncles with up to 50 flowers which are about 2.5 cm in diameter, white, cream, yellow or pink and most unusual in resembling little pea-flowers.

BOOK REVIEW: Secrets of Namaqualand Succulents by Florent Grenier

Normally when reviewing a book, one tends to compare it to others on the same subject, but in this case, there literally is no comparison. It may be of interest to know that the book came to life thanks to nearly 700 pre-orders.

The following will hopefully give you some idea of the scope of this book, which is arranged in five parts.
The first chapter, Diversity, describes what the Namaqualand plants have to offer to our five sense-organs.
The second chapter, Species, shows a large selection of Namaqualand succulents and geophytes.
In the third one, Habitats, the main regions of Namaqualand as well as 3 neighboring regions ( Cederberg, Bokkeveld and Bushmanland) are described.
Survival looks into some of the strategies that enable succulents to survive in Namaqualands harsh environment and the last chapter goes into the astonishing methods of plant reproduction, in particular, those relating to insect pollination.

Over 1100 beautiful photographs support the text. I would have loved to see the pictures printed on better paper, but that is a minor drawback compared to the wealth of information and inspiration the book has to offer.
All in all, with its combination of habitat photography and popular science, this is a unique publication that will almost certainly delight anybody interested in succulents as well as those passionate about nature and arid regions.
And last but not least: it is just a great pleasure to come across a book by someone who is not only really interested in his subject but also able to get that enthusiasm across.

The book contains 350 pages and is hardbound. The price is 39 €, but buyers in SA pay a special price of R590 (about 35 €).
To order:
write to longitude110@gmail.com and you will receive the details for an EFT payment. Otherwise, books can also be picked up in Stellenbosch (Dorp Street) and Cape Town (Newlands) upon prior notification. Books will also be stored at Kirstenbosch, at the Rooiklip nursery (Swellendam), NamaquaLodge (Vanrhynsdorp), Bagdad Café (Vanrhynsdorp-Nieuwoudtville road), Kamieskroon (cell phone details given by email), Springbok lodge (Springbok) and at Nigramoep slow living Guestfarm (NW of Springbok).
Special editions (signed copy for 49 € and collector’s edition for 89 €) can be ordered from the website www.namaqualand-succulents.com.

Senecio aloides (Grootdikblaar)

One can only wonder why De Candolle, who described this species in 1838, gave it this name, bearing in mind that aloides means “aloe-like”.
The plants form straggly shrubs of up to 70 cm tall, with few branches which are bright purple when young, becoming greyish brown with age. The cylindrical leaves are 3-7 cm long and 0.2-0.5 cm thick.

The species occurs on rocks and dunes near the coast from southern Namibia to the Cape Peninsula, where in July-October the plants are decorated with fragrant yellow flowerheads .