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

This Saturday I was out on a trip to the Haenertsburg region, to the east of Polokwane, a region with a much wetter climate. The natural vegetation is grassland and forest, but most of it has been turned into commercial plantations of Eucalypt or Pine trees.

We left very early, about four o' clock the morning. It started raining on the drive there and when we arrived it was misty, raining and very muddy. We wanted to go on the forest drive through the Woodbush and De Hoek forests, but part of the way up the mountain the road became impassable. So instead we headed to the town of Haenertsburg where we took a walk taking us mostly through moist grassland. It was very rewarding! All of us got lifers – mine were the Grassbird, Broadtailed Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Red-collared Widow, and Levaillant’s Cisticola. Mark and Julia also got one or two others they they hadn’t seen before but that I had. I left the bird photography to Mark who had a huge camera lens; I mostly photographed plants. Anyways I will share these with you also a few at a time. So just four for today.

1. I was very happy to spot this aloe! Aloe lettyae was named after famed botincal artist Cythna Letty. This aloe has a restricted distribution in the region we went to, and it's the first time I see it. It has bright pink-red flowers with inflated bases, and inflorescences with curvy branches. The succulent rosettes themselves are hidden amidst the tall grass:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Aloelettyae2b_zpsf52ab6f9.jpg

2. Berkheya seminivea is a very large and robust daisy. The leaves rosettes are low and large, the flower stalks about a yard tall, the flowerheads large and very conspicuous. Other daisy species were also prominent, dotting the grassland yellow. In this particular patch, other plants than grasses actually were more common than the grasses themselves!

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Berkheyaseminivea1b_zps74022b7d.jpg

3. This is a Commelina or Dayflower. They are small herbs with delicate, charming flowers. A few different species occur in South Africa. Not at all as diverse as some other groups, the dayflowers are nevertheless widespread and prominent members of grasslands.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Commelina1b_zpsb5cda0b5.jpg

4. Crinum graminicola is a large bulbous plant in the Amaryllis family. They have huge, drooping flowers. Here you can see the little drops of mist and rain on them ... the whole day there was a lot of mist and fine rain in this moist region:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Crinumgraminicola1b_zpsbde4246d.jpg

5. Crossandra greenstockii is a small herb in the Acanthus family, with lovely yellow to orange-red flowers. Here we saw them most easily growing right on the footpath, where the grass would not so easily overshadow them:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/Crossandragreenstockii1b_zps50b40d62.jpg

6. Finally to show you I do photograph more than just plants, a wonderful little spiderweb (with the tiny spider sitting in its centre) that stretched over our heads in one of the patches of plantation. The rain and mist rendered it conspicuous and photograph-able:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo45/WillemvdMerwe/DewySpiderweb1b_zpsd540703e.jpg

I don't know the species! I have only the most rudimentary spider guide ... I do hope a nice and comprehensive one appears here soon.

More to follow!

Wow, that region is a lot moister than most of the areas we've seen. Lovely flowers and that was a very pretty web that spider wove. Thanks for sharing these with us. I hope you had some water-proof boots for that excursion.

Hi Elektra! Actually I just used my regular hiking boots ... they got thoroughly drenched. I had to dry them out in the sun the next day. Anyways glad you enjoy this! I have more ...