VISIT BY THE MPUMALANGA PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP
Yesterday I decided to ascend to our work site at the base of Jackpot Koppie up a slope that I have not used before. I parked my bike at S12 on the Steenkamps river and headed South West up the very steep slope. At a point it became necessary to climb a cliff inside a little hammock of trees, and so I began to climb, struggling with the thorn branches of a Flame Thorn Acacia. I suddenly got a whiff of rotten meat and was immediately worried, considering my awkward situation, that I was intruding on a Leopard kill site. I cautiously ascended to a ledge and was gobsmacked at what awaited me in the shadows.....
For you maybe an anti-climax but for me, an event that I have been anticipating for four years!
It's a Stapelia gigantea, a carrion flower from the Milkweed Family that produces a pungent carrion smell to attract flies for pollination purposes, explaining the smell of rotten meat. I got so excited I nearly fell off the cliff! I have been lugging it up to the base of the cliffs bordering Potato Seed Production for the past four years (clearly at the wrong time of the year) to try get a photo of the flower. It feels as if the flower is made of rubber...spectacular!
This discovery marked the end of a four day journey with the Mpumalanga Plant Specialist Group, of which I am a member. The group consists of an array of botanists and passionists (like me) that move around the province and identify plants for the benefit of the hosting land owners.
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| Delia Oosthuizen, Barbara Turpin, Shane Burnes, Doug McMurtry and Troos Van Der Merwe inspecting a specimen of Schizocarphus nervosus in the newly burnt area off Loop road. |
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| Doug and Shane enjoying lunch with Mount Anderson in the backround |
They have helped me with our Finsbury plant list immensely by increasing the species count by thirty odd species so that our list now exceeds 550 species! Added to this, they collected samples for enough species that our list should exceed 600 species, which, considering elevation limitations amongst others, could be half of the total species count (considering that the species count for the Lydenburg and Long Tom centers of species diversity, of which we are part, includes just over 2260 species) in Finsbury. WOW!
Following is a gallery of flowering orchids we encountered in the last four days:
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| Corycium dracomontanum. Off the cycle path at about 1850 meters. |
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| Cynorkis kassneriana. In the Steenkamps waterfall gorge. |
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| Disa amoena. On the new Kestrel Trail at about 1850 meters. VULNERABLE (SANBI red list) |
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| Disa clavicornis. Just below the summit of Mount Anderson, 2260 meters. ENDANGERED (SANBI red list) |
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| Disa patula var. patula. On the new Kestrel Trail close to South Valley 1780 meters. I recently photographed a specimen of Disa patula var. transvaalensis which is an endemic. |
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| Habenaria dives. At the base of Jackpot Koppie above Unit 16, 1850 meters. |
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| Liparis bowkeri. In the Steenkamps waterfall gorge |
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| Neobolusia tysonii. On the South Eastern slopes of Mount Anderson, 2000+ metres |
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| Satyrium longicauda. All around the summit of Mount Anderson. |
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| Schizochilus cecilii subsp. transvaalensis. Just below the summit of Mount Anderson, 2260 meters. |
Jissis! My brain is full after their visit.
Till next time. We look forward to your visit.
