Little Karoo Archives - Page 5 of 16

Cotyledon papillaris

Although this is a very variable species with several synoniems, it is nevertheless easy to identify.
The plants are low, spreading shrublets with branches to 25 cm long, often rooting at nodes and bearing leaves 15-60 mm long and 4-13 mm wide, yellowish-green to glaucous*, usually with a red tip or margin.
The flowers vary in colour from yellowish and orange to darkish pink and deep red, with a tube 5-8 mm long and lobes 10-15 mm long. They appear mainly in October-February, but also after rain at other times.

Usually the plants occur on stony slopes and flats; they are often abundant in the shade of small bushes. They are widespread from southwestern Namibia to the Little Karoo and extending into the Eastern Cape.

*glaucous: covered with a thin greyish-white to bluish-green layer of wax.

Othonna protecta

As the name implies, this species is often hiding under other plants or between rocks. For that reason, it is not easy to make good pictures of it. The photographer usually must choose between showing either what the plant looks like or how well it is hidden.

The plants are shrublets with fat (pachycaul) barrel-or flask-shaped stems and thin branches up to 30 cm long. They have soft leaves, which are mainly crowded at the branch tips and are long and narrow: 40-100 mm long and 2-3 mm wide.
The flowers appear from April to October.
One can come across these plant from central Namibia to the Little Karoo on gravelly flats and slopes.

Crassula nemorosa (part 1 of 2)

These charming little plants have erect or sprawling stems , 4-10 (-15) cm long.
They are geophytes, with many small tubers (rarely over 0.5 cm in diameter).
The slightly fleshy leaves are grey-green or greyish brown and the star- to cup-shaped flowers are pale yellowish-green to brown with 2-3.5 mm long lobes.
While the flowers usually appear between June and August, depending on rainfall this may also happen at other times.
The distribution area ranges from South Namibia to the Little Karoo and the Eastern Cape, but the plants only occur in sheltered spots on rocky slopes and in crevices.

Adromischus caryophyllaceus

In contrast to their near relatives Cotyledon, Tylecodon and Kalanchoe, almost all Adromischus species have rather insignificant flowers.
This species is an exception with flowers 1.5 cm in diameter at the widest part (the biggest in the genus). They are white or pink, with a pink to purple midstripe on the lobes, and appear in summer and autumn (Jan.- April).
The plants are up to 11 cm tall and to 14 cm in diameter, with leaves up to 3.5 cm long and to 2.3 cm wide.
They are widespread from Robertson to Uitenhage and in the coastal plain south of the Little Karoo* , usually on sandstone slopes among bushes.

*The first picture was taken at Cape Agulhas, Africa’s southernmost tip.

Crassula orbicularis (part 1 of 2)

Depending on the environmental conditions, this species produces few to many rosettes with long runners, often forming dense groups up to over a metre in diameter.
Each rosette has 10-12 flattened and slightly fleshy leaves, which have a dense row of hairs along the edges and are green to brownish green, sometimes partially tinged pink to red.
The size of the leaf varies from 8 to 80 (sometimes even 100) mm long and 4 to 20 (-26) mm wide, again depending on environmental conditions.
The inflorescence is up to 20 cm tall, with small flowers (white to pale yellow, often with pink or reddish brown hue) appearing in June to November.

The species is widespread from Worcester to the eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,
usually in sheltered southern slopes under rocks or bushes; often on rocky outcrops in forested areas.

crasorb2005-11-30-0009 — This photo and the next two ones were taken in the Little Karoo

Crassula corallina (part 1: subsp. corallina)

Plants of this subspecies are usually rather short-lived; they occur from southwestern Namibia southwards to Laingsburg and south-eastwards to Queenstown .
The branches are usually lying on the ground and rooting at the nodes.
The leaves are 3-5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide.
In December to April the plants are decorated with cream flowers.

Aloe striata ssp. striata

This is one of the very few southern African Aloes without spines on the edge of the leaves.
The stems are rarely over 30 cm long and the leaves are up to 60 cm long and 15 cm wide, from greenish-grey to pinkish-grey with not very distinct longitudinal stripes.
The flowers are bright orange or (rarely) yellow on inflorescences up to a meter tall and appear from winter to early spring (August-October).
On flats with deep loamy soils, the plants are often abundant, but they also occur on rocky slopes.
The plants are not grazed, so when you see a great many together, this is an indication of heavy overgrazing of the area in the past. They are widespread from Worcester in the Western Cape to Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.

Crassula tecta (part 3 of 3)

crastect 8452

crastect 8454

crastect 7675 2012-05-06

crastectaIMG_1059

crastect Scan28

Crassula tecta (part 2 of 3)

crastect 8974

crastect 2011-11-06 7073

crastect 8892

crastect 0033

crastect +avonpapy 0409 — Cheek by jowl to Avonia papyracea

Crassula tecta (part 1 of 3)

With their leaves covered in big, coarse papillae (tecta=covered), these great little plants are unmistakable. The papillae protect the leaves again too intense light and strong wind, thereby reducing transpiration.
Some forms of Cr. namaquensis look similar, but the papillae are different and the plants occur further north and west.

The rosettes are 2-6 cm in diameter and often much branched; they bear leaves 2-3.5 cm long and 0.5-1.2 (-1.5) cm wide, the old ones remaining attached to the stem.
The flowers are white to cream and appear from April to June.

The plants are sometimes locally abundant on gravelly plains and lower slopes throughout the Little Karoo and eastwards to the Steytlerville area.