h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Poplap on the steps of the back porch, yesterday:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Poplaponsteps_zpscda44786.jpg

She's not happy at all, but trying to relax.

Stapelia obducta, the purplish smelly furry carrion flower, just starting to open:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Stapeliaobducta1_zps77fc670f.jpg

Almost fully opened:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Stapeliaobducta2_zps432ed596.jpg

Actually the petals should fold right back so the flower is just a furry ball. This carrion flower mimics the corpse of a small animal, to attract flies as pollinators!

Lazarus the resurrected Khadi-root plant:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/LazarustheKhadiRoot_zps0cab9661.jpg

You can see the damaged top of the tuber ... the growth tip used to be right in the center. Now the new shoot is emerging from the edge of the tuber!

A little Euphorbia:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Euphorbiaperangusta_zps5e21ee35.jpg

This is either Euphorbia perangusta or Euphorbia knobelii ... the botanists are still not sure whether they're the same species or not. At any rate, a very rare species (I got it from Kambroo Plants.) It is quite a spiny euphorbia, but with attractive mottling on the stem. Euphorbias are somewhat reminiscent of cacti, but quite unrelated. They are not nearly as 'wickedly' spiny as cacti ... those ones have barbs in the spines so that they stick in your flesh, it can be horrid to get into a clump of them (there are several species that have become invasive over here). Cacti are native to the Americas but there is *one* species indigenous to South Africa; it might have been brought here as a seed by a bird very long ago so as to become naturally established here. But we have a wealth of different Euphorbias!

A bee visiting a Monadenium lugardiae:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/MonadeniumandBee_zpse0cd4436.jpg

Monadenium is a relative of Euphorbia, but this one is non-spiny! It has succulent stems and leaves and weird flowers. Like Euphorbia it has a toxic latex. This might actually cause honey made from its flowers to burn your mouth! Although mondadeniums aren't so common that bees would gather enough of their nectar to affect the honey. But in some places in South Africa, euphorbias are dominant so that the honey from there burns your mouth really badly! We call it Noors Honey.

Cyphostemma humile:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Cyphostemmahumile_zps5e4a09a8.jpg

This is the local Cyphostemma. It is a 'humble' species as indicated by the species name ... it grows from an underground tuber, the stems and succulent leaves dying back each winter. This allows it to survive veld fires. It is in the grape family, relatives of the huge, thick-stemmed tree grapes that I have in my front garden(Cyphostemma juttae). LOTS of them were destroyed by housing developments in the suburb recently. This species is very rarely grown but is a nice subject for a pot, perhaps a hanging basket so the stems can trail down. I managed here to pose it nicely on a monkey thorn stump to show the trailing stems and nicely-shaped leaves! I've seen surprisingly large specimens in the veld, the stems trailing along for a couple of meters. Cyphostemmas have grape-like berries but these are mildly toxic, they burn your mouth quite agonisingly!

She is such a sweet cat, if slightly grumpy faced in the photo