Tag Archives: plants

Caribbean Visitor

I’m murdering these as I find them, but they’re interesting while they’re still alive. Take a look.

Mimosa pudica
Native to the Caribbean and South and Central America, but now a pantropical weed. Found in the Southern United States, South and East Asia, Micronesia, Australia, South and West Africa. Not shade-tolerant, it is primarily found on soils with low nutrient concentrations. Like in the lawn of this Mtwalume beach cottage.

https://videopress.com/v/yQ7JVJNf?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

One of few plants that can ‘move fast.’ Not as fast as insect-eating plants like the Venus Flytrap, but pretty quick. For a plant.

~~oo0oo~~

And – hopefully – some local blossompies:

– Indian Ocean sunrise from my bed –
Aneilema aequinoctiale – Commelina
Commelina benghalensis maybe
– Phaulopsis imbricata –

Phaulopsis imbricata is a shrub native to Southern Africa. A good fodder, the young leaves are eaten as a vegetable and the plant-ash in oil is used for rheumatism in Tanganyika. The flowers have an unpleasant smell. It is filed as near-threatened by the IUCN. It is one of the larval host plants of the butterflies great eggfly, tiny grass blue, brown pansy, soldier pansy and marbled elf.

~~oo0oo~~

Palmiet Night Walk

A few Palmiet Rangers went on a night walk led by herpetologist snake catcher and all-round naturalist Nick Evans. And they saw good stuff:

Amietia angolensis
Amietia angolensis
egg eater
egg eater
Afrixalus
Afrixalus
scorpion catching
scorpion catching . .
gecko
. . a gecko
Hyperolius
Hyperolius
Hyperolius
Hyperolius
water snake
water snake
– Nicks Pics –

Meantime I took some pics in my garden lately

tiny groundcover
tiny groundcover
jasminum?
maybe Carissa spinarum?
moth eggs -> caterpillars
moth eggs -> caterpillars
– Suncana ID’d the tiny moth eggs (ca.1mm width) and caterpillars as Saturnidae, probly Wahlberg’s Emperors –

And another of our naturalists, Suncana, was busy as ever, spotting new and fascinating things:

– Suncana Bradley’s latest –

While Roger and Rory shot more birds:

– Roger Hogg caught a Crowned Hornbill catching a Common Wolf Snake –
– Roger Hogg and Rory O’Connor here in the Palmiet valley – Athol Marchant in the Drakensberg –

~~~oo0oo~~~

This “emperor moth” from Cowies Hill wasn’t. Turns out iNaturalist says it’s a Giant Silkworm Moth. Genus Lobobunaea. Beauty, but does it belong in our valley?!

~~oo0oo~~

September Bells

Lovely message and pictures from Yvonne – ‘Our September Bells (a pressie from you and Trish twenty years ago)’:

– Rothmannia globosa – September Bells –

umPhazane (Zulu); A slender tree, usually 4-7 m in height; The shiny simple leaves are oval or lanceolate with a paler underside which displays the yellow or reddish midrib and veins. Usually evergreen but may be briefly deciduous. The scented bell-shaped flowers are creamy white, usually with pink speckles in the throat, and are borne singly or in clusters of 2 to 4 on short side branches. They are about 25 mm long and 35 mm wide. The flowers are almost stalkless and appear in spring and early summer, from August to November. The trees are often in full bloom in September, hence the common name.

At the same time the Mackaya bella Trish planted was blooming in our garden:

– Mackaya bella – Forest Bell Bush –

Mackaya bella is a beautiful shrub or small tree with slender branches bearing dark green, simple and oppositely arranged leaves. Small, hairy pockets are often found in the axil of the veins. It has beautiful, large and attractive mauve to white flowers in terminal racemes usually marked with fine purple-pink lines. The beautiful Blue Pansy butterfly caterpillars (Precis oenone oenone) feed on this shrub.

~~oo0oo~~