Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog: August 2015

Saturday 29 August 2015

Visit to the Manilkara Meander area

Yesterday we decided to tackle an area that none of the present group had walked before, i.e. a little inland from the area we have called Manilkara Meander after the number of Manilkara nicholsonii we have found along the cliff edges there. This is an area which appears to be drier than the rest of the reserve and we noted two bird species, Buff-streaked Chat and Cape Rock-thrush which we have not encountered elsewhere in the reserve.

After a short scramble we reached some baboon trails which made the walking easier in the long grass. However it was not long before we reached a section of fire-break which had been burned and the going became easier.

There were some Ficus ingens growing on rocks and showing their splendid bronze new leaves.

Ficus ingens with new leaves

The grassland is very different in species composition and there were relatively few flowers at this stage although this might be related to when the veld was burned and what rainfall has occurred since then. However there was a good display of Hypoxis: H. argentea, H. acuminata and H. hemerocallidea were all flowering well.

On our return to the vehicle we decided to have a quick walk in the other direction to see whether the eponymous Manilkara nicholsonii were producing any flowers and were lucky to find one tree which had produced buds. Close to this was an Ischnolepis natalensis which was covered in flowers and buds.

Manilkara nicholsonii in bud

Ischnolepis natalensis

Back at Beacon Hill we made a detour to take photographs of the vulnerable endemic Watsonia mtamvunae and found several other interesting plants, including two orchid species, one of which, Eulophia parviflora showed both short- and long-spurred forms. We also saw a number of 1,2m tall Drimia altissma in flower.

Drimia altissima

Eulophia parviflora: short (L) and long-spurred (R) forms

This last floriferous flurry was a good note on which to end the day.

Participants: Anne S, Dorothy M, Graham G, Kate G, Maggie A, Uschi T.

Saturday 22 August 2015

Visit to Oribi Flats

We set off a little earlier through Izingloweni to get to a small grassland which was burned on the 2nd of June this year and had produced a good showing of flowers. This grassland has been been burned on a 2-yearly cycle and has been under a moderate grazing load over the last several years, but has not been grazed since the burn. We were interested to see how the species diversity of this paddock compared against that for similar grassland nearby which has had no grazing for at least two decades. The farmer has indicated that the grazing practice is to be changed to intensive grazing for a short period and then the veld will be allowed to recover. It will be interesting to see what impact this change has on the prevelance of ngongoni grass, Aristida junciformis.

The first thing to catch the eye was the abundant carpet of Ocimum obovatum in patches.

Shortly after getting out of the vehicle we came across small clumps of Callilepis leptophylla, a species Red Listed as "Declining". Most of these were still in bud but we did managed to find one open flower. We have only one voucher for this species in the HNTA Herbarium, this having been collected at Lake Eland NR, not far away, attesting to the relative scarcity of this species in our area.

Not far away we came across several clumps of an unusual form of Lotononis bachmanniana and which we are calling the Oribi form until the taxonomy is resolved. This form has very narrow, almost needle-like leaves and elongated inflorescenses. We collected material for our herbarium and will make some of this collection available for the next revision of the genus Lotononis.

Other interesting but less threatened finds were Ochna arborea var. arborea, Huernia hystrix subsp. parvula and Brachystelma pygmaeum subsp. flavidum.

It was gratifying to see that most of these flowering species can accommodate moderate amounts of grazing pressure.

Participants: Anne S, Dorothy M, Graham G, Kate G, Maggie A, Uschi T, Anthea Mensing, Lindo Tshapa, Buyi Z, with a short visit from Mike N.

Friday 14 August 2015

Visit to Banner's Rest triangle and Rennie's Beach grasslands

Banners Rest triangle is a small portion of private property located just to the west of the R61 highway and just on the south side of the traffic light interesection at the entrance to Port Edward. We have found this unmanaged piece of grassland to have very diversie range of indigenous forb species. We were recently dismayed to learn that this piece may have been earmarked for a rerouting of the start of the road to Ezingolweni when the N2 is constructed on a more coastal route - this would probably destroy this small (and scarce) remnant of our coastal grasslands.

On this visit we recorded nearly 100 species in flower, amongst which was a very good display of Kniphofia coddiana, a species listed as Near Threatened in the SANBI Red List.

Fields of flowers

Kniphofia coddiana were flowering profusely - these should not be confused with the more common Kniphofia rooperii which flowers at the same time but grows in damp places.

After that we paid a short visit to the grassland at the Rennie's Beach section of the Red Desert Nature Reserve (a yet-to-be-proclaimed flora nature reserve) on the coast adjacent to the R61 and about 1 km before the border with the Eastern Cape. Here we found a carpet of pink Graderia scabra interspersed with mauve to purple Lotononis bachmanniana, the latter being a Near Threatened Pondoland endemic. (See the "Flowering now (August 2015)) post on this blog for photos of these and many other species.

Participants: Anne S, Dorothy M, Graham G, Kate G, Maggie A, Uschi T.

Flowering now (August 2015)

The Coral Trees have definitely decided it is spring and are putting on a splendid display at the moment. Lots of other plants have braved the relatively cool nights and have started flowering as can be seen below.

Abrus precatorus fruit cluster

Acalypha glandulifolia

Acrolophia cochlearis

Agathosma ovata

Albuca setosa

Aloe maculata

Asclepias albens

Berkheya insignis

Berkheya speciosa

Berkheya umbellata

Burchellia bubalina

Callilepis laureola

Callilepis leptophylla

Capparis tomentosa

Chamaecrista comosa

Crinum moorei

The above photo and the text below were contributed by Mbali Mkhize from the CREW office in Durban.

Crinum moorei commonly known as Umnduze or Natal Lily grows in damp, marshy areas, in shade, near stream in coastal areas. It is distributed in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, ranging from Wild coast, and coastal KZN as far North as Ngome. The Plant grows up to 1.6 m; the bulb is almost 190 mm diameter. Leaves are narrow, bright green, midrib thickened, margins slightly wavy. Flowers 5−10 in flower stalk, white to pale pink, strongly scented at night. It flowers from September to January. C. moorei is distinguished from all other Crinums, the neck of the bulb is made of thickened and hardened leaf bases, forming a false stem, leafy only at the apex; leaves do not die back and grow out again the following year with truncated apex. Segments of flowers do not from the usual narrow funnel but are more spreading when opens and not keeled dorsally with a deeper colored band. C. moorei is generally used as a traditional medicine for urinary tract infections and to treat cattle.

If you have seen this plant, please contact Suvarna Parbhoo, CREW programme: KZN Node Manager s.parbhoo@sanbi.org.za