Tag: Little Karoo

Cephalophyllum subulatoides

Only three species of Cephalophyllum are known to occur in the Little Karoo and this is one of them; it also occurs somewhat more to the west, in the Worcester-Robertson Karoo. The other two are C. curtophyllum and C. purpureo-album.

With their short thick stems, the plants are rather more compact than most other Cephalophyllums. They form clumps up to 15 cm in diameter, the centres of which die off with age.
The dark green leaves are 5.5-8 cm long, triangular with a sharp point (subulatoides means awl-shaped).
In July-August the plants are decorated with magenta flowers about 3 cm in diameter. The staminodes are white.
The fruits are persistent; they have a rounded base and about 12 compartments.

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.

Gibbaeum petrense (Klipvygie)

As this species is easy to grow, it is often encountered in cultivation. In nature it is restricted to a narrow band along the northern foothills of the Langeberg Mountains, where it is locally abundant in shallow clayey soil rich in quartzite pebbles.
The plants form tufts -often 5 to 10 cm across- of densely crowded leaves, with rather sharp edges  and convex sides. They are firm to the touch and greyish to greenish in colour.
In Aug.­-Oct. they produce dark pink to light purple flowers, about 1.5 cm in diameter.

 

 

 

Glottiphyllum cruciatum

Cruciatum means cross-shaped, referring to the way the leaves are arranged. They are more or less erect, have pointed and often reddened tips and are widened towards the base.
The flowers have long stalks and are about 6 cm across; they appear in May-July.
Characteristic for the fruits are the disintegrating stalks and the very high tops (resembling an acorn).
The plants usually grow under shrubs in sandy/gravelly loam, often together with G. linguiforme and G. carnosum; they are locally abundant, but restricted to only a few sites in the Little Karoo (Oudtshoorn – Calitzdorp area).

Pelargonium magenteum (incl. P. rhodanthum)

The softly woody branches  of these shrubs bear heart shaped to roundish leaves 0.5-2 cm in diameter, velvety hairy and greyish green, with a coarsely toothed margin.
In May-October the plants put forth inflorescences, each with 2-9 flowers about 2 cm across; the petals are pink to mauve to deep magenta, with dark purple spots and stripes.
The species is widespread from Vanrhynsdorp to Montagu and Calitzdorp, usually on rocky outcrops. As the shrubs become up to 1 m tall, they make great garden plants in a suitable climate.

 

 

 

 

 

Antegibbaeum fissoides

The genus Antegibbaeum contains only this species. It is endemic to the western part of the Little Karoo, where it may occur in great numbers, usually on clayey soil in quartz patches and often accompanied by Gibbaeums.
At first sight, the plants are very similar to those of Argyroderma fissum. They are branched from the base, with upright or flat-growing stems, forming clumps up to 18 cm across.
The leaves of each pair are slightly unequal, greyish-green, sometimes reddish.
Older leaves are often covered in an unsightly black fungus (also see Cerochlamys).
The flowers have short stalks and are deep pink to violet-red; they are to 6 cm in diameter and appear in in late winter and early spring: August-September.
Common names for this species are volstruistone (ostrich toes) and bobbejaanvingertjies (baboon fingers).


With Gibbaeum petrense

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cerochlamys pachyphylla

In the field, one now and then comes across Mesembs with blackish stains which apparently are caused by fungi (sooty moulds) that grow on the sweet honeydew secreted by-sap sucking insects.
Although this makes the plants less attractive to look at, they do not normally seem to suffer much from it. The subject of this post is often a victim of these attacks; other well-known examples are Antegibbaeum, Cephalophyllum and Cylindrophyllum.

Over time, C. pachyphylla will form clumps of waxy* grayish leaves which are up to 6 cm long and three-angled in cross-section with a very oblique keel.
Usually the flowers are purple pink, rarely white or pale yellow. They are 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter and appear in late autumn to winter( May-July).

Although there are not very many populations, the plants are often locally abundant on sandstone rocks and shale ridges in the Little Karoo between Barrydale and Oudtshoorn.

* The genus name is derived from ceros = wax and chlamys = mantle.


With Conophytum truncatum

Curio (Senecio) citriformis

This species was described in 1956 from material collected at Donkerkloof northwest of Montagu. For whatever reason, modern references place the plants at least a hundred kms to the East in the Little Karoo, either at the foothills of the Klein Swartberge or between Barrydale and Ladismith. *
They are found on rocky flats and outcrops.

Their 5-10 cm long fleshy rootstocks branch at soil level or below and thereby form small cushions.
The leaves are up to 3 cm long and about 1 cm thick and wide, spindle-shaped or almost spherical with tapered ends like a lemon (hence the name). They have a bluish grey waxy cover and are decorated with around 40 longitudinal clear stripes.
The 10-15 cm tall peduncles bear 1-3 creamy white flowerheads about 0.5 cm in diameter and appear in Jan. – March.

*All pictures apart from the first one, were taken a week ago about a km northeast of Montagu.

Smicrostigma viride

This species is typical for the Little Karoo and has some peculiar characteristics: the leaves are fused at their base, forming a long sheath, so that the plant looks like a stem succulent, and the flowers  do not close again once they are open.
At first sight, the plants resemble certain Ruschia’s and they have flowers like Erepsia, but still they are usually easy to recognise. Actually, the plants are so different from others that the genus is monotypic.  In other words: there is only one species of Smicrostigma.

The plants are up to 60 cm tall with more or less erect branches becoming woody with age. They have leaves with a sheath up to 2.5 cm long and shorter free parts with a recurved tip.
The solitary flowers are to 3 cm in diameter and have a very short stalk. They are said to flower from spring to summer, but in my area they can be found in flower the whole year round.
The anthers and stigma are completely hidden by a group of light pink to usually purple petals and the seed capsules have 7-10 compartments.

Although the species is largely endemic to the Little Karoo, it is found from Uniondale westwards to Worcester, mainly in dry shrubby vegetation on sandy to loamy soils.