Willem's wildlife adventure continues.

Of course, if you know me, you'll know that I also went for the plants! I took some time to sit and sketch some of the trees; I also went on several walks to see what I could find. There were a few stand-out plants. Perhaps the most interesting was what we call a Resurrection Plant, Myrothamnus flabellifolius. This species grows mostly on shallow soils on or at the margin of rock sheets. This shallow soil becomes very wet if it rains but also dries out rapidly if the sun shines. The resurrection plants also dry out, becoming brown and dead-looking, but then miraculously 'revive' as soon as it rains! I demonstrated it for Daniel and Gigi: we broke a bit off and, back at the chalet, put it in a glass of water. Over the course of some hours, the leaves spread out fan-like and became fresh and green-looking. Here you see a wild plant, and in Gigi’s hands, one piece that is still dry, and one that had been soaked in water, to show the difference. And there you see both pieces together, in a glass.

Apart from its resurrection properties, this species is also used as an herbal tea and as a spice. The leaves contain camphor and eucalyptus-like oils.

On the same shallow soil around the rock sheets, I found another specialty! This is a carrion flower; I think it's the species Huernia quinta. This species grows mainly in the Waterberg region. This is what they look like in the wild – we saw several clumps, but unfortunately no flowers.

The veld had many noteworthy trees, such as the Horn Pod Tree, Diplorhynchus condylocarpon, Round-Leaved Teak, Pterocarpus rotundifolius, Wild Syringa, Burkea africana, Silver Cluster-Leaf, Terminalia sericea, Spine-Leaved Monkey-Orange, Strychnos pungens, Peeling Barked Ochna, Ochna pulchra, Large-Fruited Bushwillow, Combretum zeyheri, Transvaal Beech, Faurea saligna and many more. Here you see a Lavender Croton, Croton gratissimus, usually a shrub or small tree, but in Kamonande reaching impressive proportions. Daniel provides a sense of scale – this one is almost ten metres tall. The leaves of this species are wonderfully fragrant.

The live-long, Lannea discolor, grows on hills all over northern South Africa. It is usually a small, spreading tree with large, soft leaves, green above and whitish below. It has a thick bark and can tolerate long droughts. It bears fruits beloved by many birds.

Other small plants I enjoyed finding included this fern, a Pellaea calomelanos. This is one of South Africa's most drought-resistant fern species, often growing in exposed, rocky places rather than in moist, shady forests like most other ferns.

I also found this lovely little Ledebouria, a small bulbous plant with spotted leaves. A great diversity of Ledebourias are found in the Limpopo Province, many occurring only here.

This was, I'm quite sure, a species of Brachystelma, a relative of the carrion flowers. Unlike those, which have succulent, leafless above-ground stems, Brachystelmas make mostly subterranean tubers from which mostly short, annual, leafy stems emerge. The tubers are often exposed, as you can see here. This is how I found the plant, I didn't dig around the tuber to uncover it. Unfortunately no flowers, so I can't say which species it is. It is only the second Brachystelma I ever found in the wild – the group is one of South Africa’s rarest. But incredibly diverse.

This last photo wasn't taken in the reserve, but on the road back. This wild fig tree grew right beside the road, on a cutting that formed part of the pass through the Waterberg Mountains back to Mokopane/Potgietersrus. The roots were making these intricate and lovely shapes against the roadside cliff!

So all in all it was a very rewarding and enjoyable outing. I hope y'all appreciated me sharing these snippets with you.

Colours of Wildlife Archive

Willem

03.04.17 Front Page

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