Namaqualand Archives - Page 7 of 11

Pelargonium luteolum

About 70 species of Pelargonium belong to the section Hoarea: deciduous geophytes with turnip-shaped or elongated tubers. Several of these plants have similar leaves, so one needs flowers to positively identify them.
P. luteolum possesses a large tuberous rootstock and a number of smaller tubers and
leaves 4-7 cm long and 3-12 cm wide which are dry at flowering.
The inflorescence has 2-3 branches and is up to 20-30 cm tall.
Each of the branches bears to 16 flowers, which are about 1.5 cm in diameter and pale yellow, sometimes pink, with dark red-purple lines on the two upper petals. They usually appear from November-March, but sometimes as late as May.
The plants are widespread in various -usually rocky- habitats from southern Namaqualand to Steytlerville and Mossel Bay. This is mainly a winter rainfall area, with about 100-300 mm rain per year. They seem to be especially plentiful in the Worcester-Montagu area.

The three overlapping lower petals -hiding the style and stamens-are characteristic for this species. The literature tells us that they are arranged in such a way that the lateral ones partly overlap the central one. When you look closely at the last picture, you will see that the arrangement is sometimes the other way round: here the central one of the three lower petals lies on top of the two lateral ones.

The first picture was taken 27 June 2010, the next three 22 Jan. 2016 and the last one 21 Febr. 2009.

Othonna taraxacoides

Almost two years ago I published a post on Othonna auriculifolia. Today’s subject could be considered the northern counterpart of that species. Both were described in the first half of the 19th century, when taxonomy was still a very European science. This probably explains why both specific epithets refer to well known European plants: taraxacoides means looking like a Taraxacum (dandelion) and auriculifolia means with leaves like Primula auricula (bear’s ears or cow slip).

O. taraxacoides is a stemless tuberous geophyte up to 10 cm tall. The leaves are leathery and wedge- to egg-shaped or more or less kidney-shaped. Usually they are 2-3 cm long and up to 2 cm wide, with small rounded teeth and often incised with 3-5 rounded lobes.
The flower heads are 0.8-1.5 cm in diameter and appear in July and August.
The plants occur on open pebbly places or quartz patches from the
Richtersveld to Kamieskroon.

Mesembryanthemum digitatum ssp. digitatum (part 2 of 2)

Mesembryanthemum digitatum ssp. digitatum (part 1 of 2)

In my preceding post (https://enjoysucculents.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/conophytum-khamiesbergense/) I asked the readers’ opinion on the slide scans used there.
A big thank you to all who were kind enough to respond to that request (and I’m quite chuffed because all responses were positive). Being able to mix pictures that were taken digitally with ones that were scanned, gives me a lot more options for posts.

Today’s subject with its bizarre finger-and-thumb-like leaves is certainly one of the more peculiar succulents. One cannot help but feeling that some of this otherness is reflected in its taxonomic history:
The taxon* was described in 1789 as a Mesembryanthemum, in 1925 it was placed in a genus of its own (Dactylopsis) and in 1995 it was incorporated in Phyllobolus (only to be returned to Dactylopsis in 2006). In 2013 it was reinstated -together with many other species- as a member of Mesembryanthemum.

* Taxon is a term to refer to a taxonomic group or unit of any rank (a family, a variety or whatever -depending on the context).

The plants form clumps 10-20 cm tall and are heteromorphous (of variable shape): the first leaf of a growing period is long and the second short, giving the appearance of a “finger and thumb”.
They flower at the beginning of the resting period (November-December); the flowers stay open day and night for 3 weeks or even longer.
To see the plants in the wild, you have to go to the Vredendal/Vanrhynsdorp area of the Knersvlakte in Namaqualand, where they occur on shale covered with quartz pebbles.

Mesembryanthemum digitatum ssp. digitatum (part 1 of 2)

* Taxon is a term to refer to a taxonomic group or unit of any rank (a family, a variety or whatever -depending on the context).

Conophytum khamiesbergense

With the many warts and teeth on the ends of their leaves, these fascinating plants are always immediately recognizable. They are so unlike other Conophytums that originally they were placed in a genus of their own: Berrrisfordia.
They form tight mats or cushions, with leaves to 1.5 cm long.
The whitish-pink to mauve flowers appear in late winter or early spring; they open in the morning and are scented of raspberries.
The species only occurs on granite domes in the highest part of the Kamiesberg in Namaqualand.
The pictures below are recent scans of slides that I made several years ago. The scanner I used before refuses to work with my current PC, so I decided to buy a new one for converting old slides that still might be put to good use.

After working on a picture for a long time, it often becomes very difficult to keep looking at the results in an objective way.
Therefore I would like to call in your help by letting me know if you think the quality of these pictures is on a par with what you have come to expect in this blog OR is at least good enough for the purpose.
If yes, wonderful; if no, I will just have to further improve my scanning skills!

Crassula columnaris (part 3 of 3)

And here some pictures of subsp. prolifera.

Crassula columnaris (part 2 of 3)

More pictures of subsp. columnaris.

Crassula columnaris (part 1 of 3)

It takes plants of this species 5-10 years to reach maturity and become columnar.
There are 2 subspecies, each with a number of local forms.
The plants are often locally abundant on gentle slopes and in depressions (often with quartz gravel); sometimes they also occur in shallow soil on rocky outcrops.
The flowers are white, pale yellow (often tinged red) or rarely almost red.

Subsp. columnaris is usually unbranched, with columns 2-3.5 cm wide, often as long as broad.
The inflorescence is swollen, rounded to flat and appears from May to September
The plants are monocarpic, which is another way of saying they die after flowering.
They are found in most parts of the little Karoo, the adjoining western Great Karoo and towards Calvinia.
Subsp. prolifera reaches a height of 3-10 cm when in flower and forms several short branches at the base. Often these branches easily break off and take root.
The inflorescence is more or less branched and appears from July to October. After flowering, the plants often regenerate from the lower branches.
This subspecies occurs in most parts of Namaqualand and adjoining areas of Bushmanland and southwestern Namibia.

The four pictures all show ssp. columnaris.

Euphorbia muricata

E. muricata belongs to a group of spineless, shrubby Euphorbias which are often difficult to tell apart. This species however, is distinctive because of the rough surface of the branches.
The plants reach a height of up to 60 cm and occur from the Knersvlakte to Calvinia on gentle slopes and loamy flats.
Photos taken on the Knersvlakte 1 Sept. 2010.