Blue Moon

Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the noonday sun!
Goukamma on the 1st of February with a forecast temperature of 27 degrees was always going to be a bit of a gamble. Fortunately a fresh and cool southeaster made its appearance fairly early on in the day. In the hollows where the breeze doesn’t penetrate, the mercury must have soared high into the 30’s. Most of the Rollercoaster is along the ridges, so we weren’t too uncomfortable for long periods.

We met up with Lize and Rudi von Staden at the Wild Oats Garage and drove to the parking on the shores of Groenvlei. They are down here on holiday. Lize is in charge of the Red List and the assessment of all our plants in terms of threat status. The Outramps were thin on the ground for various reasons, including a broken arm, international visitors, removal of a basal cell carcinoma and a visit from the farrier, so Dave and I represented the Group. It wasn’t long before Rudi and Dave discovered a common passion for birds and trail-running and of course the plants, which kept them chatting for most of the day.

At the top of the steep path, there was a sign saying “No entry – Danger”. Having come to do plant monitoring, we ignored this and really, there was absolutely no danger. This is a bad case of “Crying Wolf”. I know the place like the back of my hand, having hiked at Goukamma since 1970, but at times it was quite tricky finding the track in the rapidly regenerating veld. Good rains over the last month or two, have brought the resprouters out in force and there was a very attractive grass (Stipagrostis zeyheri) all over the Reserve. There is relatively little erosion, probably because the rain has generally been quite light.

Dave has taken on the Rutaceae and the Phylicas for the Outramps and chatted to Lize about sources of information about these Families and Genera. It was during this conversation, that he mentioned that he was toying with the idea of taking on the Muraltias as well. The last Muraltia revision was done in 19 voetsek. The Rutaceae are vaguely manageable, but the Phylicas are extremely difficult. Adding the Muraltias to the “Flylickers”, made me wonder if Dave has a death wish. He must certainly be a risk-taker of note. But Lize was full of helpful ideas on sources of info, which will make life very much easier, if he does decide to go that route.

There were fewer Brunsvigia orientalis than I expected post-burn. I also anticipated lots of Gladiolus vaginatus (Rare). We only saw 2 all day. We spotted a massive tortoise, which must have had a safe spot to hide in the June fires or maybe he/she had arrived more recently. Tarchonanthus littoralis, Morella quercifolia, Searsia crenata, Olea exasperata and Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus were all resprouting vigorously. Instead of sticking closely to the Rollercoaster track, we went cross-country. One of the hollows was full of Artemisia afra, which is the most widely used medicinal plant in Africa. I was puzzled by a plant that resembled Anginon difforme, but looked a whole lot more robust. I don’t recall seeing it here before. However, my ageing memory has got me into trouble before and no doubt will get me into trouble again. My Argyrolobium from last week at Eseljacht turned out to be Lotononis elongata (Endangered). This is a new locality for this plant and only the 3rd locality where we’ve found it, so very exciting. Which reminded me - there was a small resprouting ? Lotononis on the dune above Groenvlei, which will need checking.

Looking down at Groenvlei from above, we noticed that a huge clump of Milkwoods (Sideroxylon inerme) had lost their leaves. The debate – was it the scorching heat of the fire or the drought that preceded it, which caused the problem? Any ideas? We were relieved to see that most of the trees were sending out new leaves, so the damage doesn’t seem irretrievable. The Lake trail was very overgrown when we walked it in the morning. In the afternoon it had just been cleared and the going was a whole lot easier. So thank you Goukamma.

The attractive grass that was widespread has been nagging me. We don’t generally bother much with the grasses, but I was beginning to think it might just be Pentameris barbata ssp orientalis (Critically Endangered). After some investigation it turned out not to be. Jan Vlok id’d it as Stipagrostis zeyheri, which is common. But the Pentameris flowers in February, so we will have to go back later on in the month and check the 2 sites where we have seen it before.

For various reasons, we haven’t been hiking with WAGS this year. We broke that pattern on Wednesday and joined them for a walk along Wilderness Beach from NSRI to just beyond Flat Rock. There weren’t too many plants, but the paragliders were hugely active - there must have been 20 up in the air at the same time. With a dead low Springtide allied with a blue-blooded, full moon, it was an excellent choice and very much enjoyed.
Di

Jan Vlok talking about Cyrtanthus debilis post-fire
“Isn’t it amazing how rapidly they respond to a fire? I can just imagine how those bulbs sit in the soil under the mature shrubs and count the days for years and years .......... and then one day they hear the roar of the fire, and then - Hoorah boys and girls lets go for it!

Well they are going for it indeed. Never seen so many before. They are all over the area.

An intriguing question. What pollinates these flowers? With such an intense and extensive fire, I cannot imagine a single insect surviving within the burned area. Something must fly in from the surrounding unburned area. The flower colour and shape suggests a long-tongued fly, but nobody knows.

So, if you do go, see if you can see if there is any pollinator visiting the flower and exactly how they do the job (don’t worry it will not be too obscene). If you crack this one it will be another feather in the OUTRAMP’s hat. The only danger being that you will all soon look like peacocks.

Best wishes and good luck. Sometimes a specific pollinator only turns up early in the morning, mid-morning or late afternoon. Often they are only active for an hour or two and then they are gone. Fortunately, it is highly unlikely that it would be a moth, otherwise Sally would have to sit out all night.”

Jan
Sally is our new Co-Ordinator and the Bug expert for the Outramps, so in with the best chance of finding the pollinator – ed
STOP Press – Dave Underwood was on his way to the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, when he heard about the mass display of Cyrtanthus debilis (Rare). He decided to make a “draai” en route and saw Rhiniidae Nosefly on this exquisite little Irid. Could this be the elusive pollinator that Jan discusses? We will make sure that we have photos in next week’s Reportback.

LOT’s trip on Thursday will be to Villa Castollini in Brenton. Maybe the SIM field trip should take the form of a bulb/pollinator hunt – destination to be confirmed. Jan’s story is irresistible.
Hamba Kahle
Groete en dankie
The Outramps CREW Group
Southern Cape

All id’s subject to confirmation by Doc Annelise and Jan Vlok, Steven Molteno Dr Tony Rebelo, Nick Helme, Prof Charlie Stirton, Dr Robert Archer, Dr Robert McKenzie, Dr Ted Oliver, Christopher Whitehouse, Derek Tribble, Adriaan Grobbler, Prix Burgoyne, Dr Kenneth Oberlander, Dr Pieter Winter, Dr David Gwynne-Evans and Damion. Thank you all for your ongoing help and support. The South African community is busy migrating to iNaturalist and we will soon have projects etc. up and running. When they are ready, I will provide you with the links.

Abbreviations Glossary
MCSA – Mountain Club of South Africa
MSB - Millenium Seed Bank based at Kew in the UK
WIP – Work in Progress
HAT – High Altitude Team
LOT – Lowland Team
SIM – Somewhere in the Middle Team
WAGS – Wednesday Adventure Group
VB – Vlok Boekie “Plants of the Klein Karoo” and our Plant Bible
ITRTOL – Another thread “In The Rich Tapestry Of Life”(It describes a challenging situation, usually to do with the Buchu Bus)
ITFOT – In the fullness of time
WOESS – Fair Weather Hiker
FMC and JW – too vulgar to translate, but the equivalent is “Strike me Dead” An expression of surprise and delight on finding a new “Rare”
Kambro – same as above
Fossick – A meter per minute, scratching around looking for rares
SIDB – Skrop in die Bos – Another name for a field trip, this one coined by Prix
BAFFING – Running round like a blue-arsed fly
SYT – Sweet Young Thing - Anyone under the age of 40
TOMB – Get a move on
Mayhem - Needless or willful damage or violence
SESKRYNG – “Sit en staan kry niks gedaan” ,with thanks to Brian
SOS – Skelms on Scramblers
FW – Idiot
BOB – Another name for the Buchu Bus when she’s misbehaving.
CRAFT – A symptom of Old Age
DDD - Metalasia tricolor (Damned Diabolical Daisy)
VP – Vrekplek – Retirement Village
Qàq – Self-explanatory Inuit word describing some of our local problems
Mr Fab – Our Fabaceae specialist, Brian Du Preez – originally Boy 1
Muisvoel -The Mathematician – Peter Thompson
Boy 2 – Kyle Underwood who works on Orchids and is still at school
Sharkie – Finn Rautenbach – Our latest SYT is a surfer in his spare time
Sicko – Someone who suffers from Car Sickness. With 4 in the Group, allocating seating in the Buchu Bus is tricky
VAG – Virgin Active Garage, which is our meeting place when we head north
MATMUE – Meet At The Mall Under E - Meeting place when we head West
WG – Waves Garage in Wilderness East. - Meeting place when we’re going east.
VU- Vulnerable
DDT – Data Deficient and Taxonomically ?
NT – Near Threatened
EN – Endangered
CR – Critically Endangered
PE – Presumed extinct
LC – Least Concern
TBC – To be Confirmed
TLC – Tender loving care
JMS – An expression of absolute disdain
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
Milk – the fruit of the vine
Condensed Milk – Scotland’s finest export
Full Cream Milk or Fat Milk – Any product of Humulus lupulus eg. Milk Stout
Milk of the Gods – Rooibos and Brandy
Milk Shake - Sparkling Wine
NS – Species of conservation concern new to the Outramps
PS -Priority Species allocated to the Outramps by our CREW Cape Co-ordinator , Ismail Ebrahim
iNFD – iNaturalist for Dummies as compiled by Sally
Mizzle – Mist and drizzle combined. A regular feature of George in the ”good old days”. Now seldom seen
FE – Fire Ephemeral – only appears immediately or after a couple of years after fire

Publicado el febrero 5, 2018 09:16 MAÑANA por outramps-tanniedi outramps-tanniedi

Comentarios

No hay comentarios todavía.

Agregar un comentario

Acceder o Crear una cuenta para agregar comentarios.