October Fynbos Rambles to Myburghskloof, Cape Point, Brakkloofrant, Blackhill and Silvermine

  

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

 in Cape Town, South Africa

 

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

 

October was 5 hikes, so more pictures.

 

Myburghskloof

 

Just past the Chapman's Peak Lookout a mid-size caracal kitten slipped across the road ahead of us, then turned to look back and show us that beautiful face, big blue eyes and tufted ears, with a russet coat and powerful legs.

 

My 3 sets of sleeves and woolly hat met an English hiker in sweatpants and a bikini top. A sun halo because it is COLD.

 

Sun halo October

Left of the pine sapling, snow on the distant Jonkershoek mountains! Weatherman said it would be 16 C.

 

Snow on Jonkershoek October

This short stretch above Suikerbossie restaurant at the beginning of the trail is our MOST rewarding! Low with intense colour Lessertia capensis. Pink Ixia scillaris. Daisy heart Arctotis acaulis. Pauridia capensis today all rather dark. Our year of orchids - 25 species on iNat! Orchid 1 Satyrium bicorne. Lachenalia orchioides greenish and tall.

 

Pauridia Myburghskloof October

Moraea gawleri - leaves crinkled margins. Trachyandra chlamydophylla with fleshy quill like leaves, still tight buds. Trametes bracket fungus. Euphorbia genistoides. Protea nitida bright red leaf buds. Never even got to Difficult Rock today.

 

Weird Trachyandra Myburghskloof October

 

Cape Point

 

Crassula thunbergiana - is it post-fire? Often coastal. White flowers in axillary heads. Common on sandy flats. Annual.

 

Circular Drive to burnt area at bokmakieriestert for Orchid 2 in pink and white Disa obtusa. Then Olifantsbos for the low path along the coast. Lessertia frutescens. Very large barred lappet caterpillar. Cineraria geifolia (blooming in my garden too)

 

Cape Point October

Brakkloofrant

 

Suddenly from one week to the next VERY hot. 3 sets of foreign / BRICS navy ships in our bay. Again in search of after fire flowers. Imagine the heat which shatters rocks. Pink llama / sooty moth came home with me.

 

Rock flakes from the fire

We make an annual visit to these (Orchid 3) Satyrium carneum, usually along the ridge, but also tumbling down the burnt slope. One white, but not the cherry red. Gladiolus carneus - mauve pollen, fan of flowers on stalk, and petal markings.

 

Satyrium carneum Brakkloofrant October

Moraea ochroleuca from buttery yellow to Sixties orange. Manulea rubra echoes the deep colour.

 

Moraea ochroleuca Brakkloofrant October

Pelargonium grossularoides flowers and leaves, small and low after fire. Sebaea schlechteri only 4 obs on iNat, my Least Observed species! Cleretum herrei sprawled on the rock. Wahlenbergia capensis elaborate blue perfection. Moraea setifolia the last one escaped mowing down.

 

Sebaea schlechteri  Brakkloofrant October

 

Blackhill and Jonkersdam Trail

 

Hot. As hell. About 8 km circuit. Till we can see the sea. 5 stopped at the 'jonquils' turnoff for tea in the shade to catch the breeze. Steady pace for the rest of us, then we hunted for Orchid 4 - together we found 4 plants. On the return loop, good to see steady progress clearing the dark green invasive aliens above Glencairn.

 

Blackhill and Jonkersdam Trail

Bartholina burmanniana our ethereal target. Podalyria argentea in pink, and also plain white. Endangered. Orchid 5 - Pterygodium catholicum. Ursinia anthemoides exquisite seeds displaying 'spent matches'. Oedera capensis with narrow leaves, not 9 heads. Cyanella hyacinthoides - Wicked Witch of the South with her hollow for Halloween fingers - open stamens for buzz pollination by bees.

 

Bartholina Blackhill October

 

Silvermine South

 

From this hike I added 9 obs to iNat. Tropicorypha bifida bug on Pseudoselago. Our target is (Orchid 6) Disa maculata in a stiff breeze. Very few plants, due to changing weather, or poachers close to the busy road? While we waited for those trapped in traffic on Ou Kaapse Weg (running across bottom right) we pondered Kiggelaria africana, planted here.

 

New bug Silvermine October

Microdon dubius can be burgundy, or plain lemon yellow. Furry Trachyandra hirsutiflora. Syncarpha speciosissima yellow centre bare flowerstalk. Dilatris pillansii has 2 SHORT stamens (and a long one). Gnidia juniperifolia. Rafnia angulata yellow and russet flowers.

 

Dilatris Silvermine October

Need a hand up, over the rocks? White Acrosanthes teretifolia ( = leaves round in cross section) was challenging to name. Erica bruniades a Nother pink erica in a tulle tutu and dark tights. Serruria fasciflora

 

UNusual flowers Silvermine October

My hikes are listed on my Hiking page.

 

I wish my readers a Happy Christmas; will be back with a garden post as the year turns.

 

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