Tag: Great Karoo

Anacampseros lanceolata

Common names: boesmansuring, hasiekos.

This clump-forming species is similar to A. telephiastrum, but up to 10 cm tall and thereby the largest member of the genus.
Its leaves are lance-shaped*, to 4 cm long and to 2 cm wide ( wider than thick), rounded below but almost flat above and ending in a minute spiny tip; they are blue-green at the beginning of the growing season, but become wrinkled and brown at flowering time. The white hairs in the leaf axils are often longer than the leaves.
The inflorescence is up to 25 cm tall, with 1 – 4 pink or white flowers, which are  to 3 cm in diameter; the petals are almost as wide as long, with a pointed tip. Flowering time is October to December.

The plants are found on rocky flats or slopes from the Richtersveld  to the western Karoo, Little Karoo and Langkloof.    Anacampserotaceae

* a shape which is broadest at about a third from the base and gradually gets narrower till it ends in an acute tip.

 

Ruschia crassa

One could describe this species as a “Big brother” of the earlier discussed Ruschia grisea. It is a robust shrub to 70 cm tall with ascending branches. The leaf-pairs are fused to each other below, with the free parts usually shorter than the basal leaf sheath; the keel is decorated with a single indistinct tooth.
In late spring/early summer (Oct.-Jan.) the plants are blooming with white flowers 22 mm in diam.

The species is to be found on shale and gravel plains of the southern Great Karoo from Matjiesfontein to Prince Albert.


                    

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 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.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 pyramidalis

Although this species is widespread from the southern Great Karoo and the Montagu area to Somerset East, it is rarely common. It most often grows in shallow soil on rocky outcrops, on gravelly slopes and in crevices; usually on a north/north-east facing aspect.

As the pictures show, the plants are very variable.
Most often, the stems are erect, only rarely decumbent*. They are completely covered by the leaves, which are arranged in four neat ranks so that a quadrangular column is formed. This may be 0.6-2 cm in diameter and up to 25 cm tall (usually much shorter). Once a stem has flowered, it dies back, but new ones are formed at the base.
The leaves are green to grey-green or reddish-brown and the flowers white or cream-coloured.
Flowering time is spring: Aug.-Oct.

* creeping on the ground with the tips raised.
Synonyms: C. quadrangula, C. cylindrica, C. archeri.