November Fynbos Rambles to Simonsberg, Steenberg Plateau, Elsie's Peak and Noordhoek Wetland

 

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

 in Cape Town, South Africa

 

Hiking among wildflowers

in the mountains

around Cape Town

 

Simonsberg

 

Wind cut short our walk. Mountain slope covered in Watsonia borbonica, with one last Serruria hirsuta.

 

Watsonia borbonica
Simonsberg November

Almost the same colour, and yet so different in mauvy blues. Roella ciliata adds navy and white stripes. Corymbium africanum - a daisy with a corymb of flowers and 'bulb' leaves. Pseudoselago spuria, darker in bud at centre of each head. Dilatris pillansii - for species check the stamens.

 

Mauvy blues on Simonsberg November

New to me - flowers on Gerbera linnaei. We always see those ferny leaves - for a daisy!

 

Gerbera linnaei
Simonsberg November

Pelargonium elongatum - long flowerstalks and zonal leaves. Two inches high, but still a (South of the Sahara) hibiscus = Hibiscus aethiopica. Rafnia angulata - glaucous leaves with yellow pea flowers.

 

November flowers on Simonsberg

Steenberg plateau

 

LONG steady walk to naval mast and burnt area for orchids. Wade carefully thru the bog first. Disa atricapilla the dark vibrant one. Disa bivalvata is a quieter version. Yellow orchid Pterygodium acutifolium. Gladiolus pappei staying with pinks.

 

Boggy orchids
Steenberg November

Then walk down the 'closed for frogs in season' path. Strange Evotella carnosa chunky flesh-coloured, liver orchid. Watsonia coccinea - boggy and small for a watsonia. Moraea angusta.

 

Evotella liver orchid
Steenberg November

Drosera cuneifolia with curled flowerstalk and luscious pink flowers. Villarsia goldblattiana, in the bog, big fleshy leaves, OTT fringed yellow flowers - a happy first for me.

 

Drosera and Villarsia
Steenberg November

Steady pace home on the jeep track, after tea at Junction Pool. Upside down orchid, toothy lip UP, Eulophia bolusii. Small furry yellow pea Aspalathus ericifolia.

 

Upside down orchid
Steenberg November

 

Elsie's Peak

 

Fierce windy and some spots of rain. Up to the rocks near the top to visit Teedia lucida with 'rock tomatoes'. Furry green Erica capitata. Down past Osmitopsis dentata. Aspalathus juniperina orange and yellow flowers.

 

Teedia
Elsie's Peak November

Pelargonium psammophilum with burgundy spotted petals. Daisy bracts on Senecio umbellatus. Pink and white Podalyria argentea - with rust lined buds.

 

Podalyria
Elsie's Peak November

Frame the view for the weekend's Ultra-Trail Cape Town runners. Kitty beetle. The scraped patch on the slope behind the hotel is another new development.

 

Kitty beetle Elsie's Peak

Noordhoek Wetland

 

Threatening clouds but no rain! At the wetland a woman on her horse. 'You are frightening my horse! All these people with white hats. He thinks you are monsters!' wow. Disa cornuta sparkles gold in the sun. Golden dragonfly. Red pollen on Moraea racemossisima. Yellow daisy Athanasia crithmifolia.

 

Gold sparkles
Noordhoek Wetland November

 

Chapman's Peak Nature Reserve

 

Hermannia angustibracteata deep orange twirly bells. Microloma sagittatum tightly twirled flower tips, with a twist of sweetness. Little pumpkin is Kedrostis nana. Careful engineering for winter rain at this development. Former kaolin mine, scrape off all indigenous vegetation, but retain the invasive alien pine trees, which are a fire hazard.

 

Chapman's Peak Nature Reserve
November

My hikes are listed on my Hiking page.

 

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Pictures by Diana Studer

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