Life Wonderings of a Nature Lover: January 26-29 2018 Wildflowers in the Southern Maluti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site

A magical fairyland of colour, sifting light and a stunning array of wildflowers decorated the mountain landscapes as my dear friend Nikki Brighton and I hiked from Bushman’s Nek, up the pass to Tarn Cave, then explored the Rock Garden at Sehlabathebe, walked on to Thamatu village and back down to Bushman’s Nek via Thomatu Ridge. She has already written a wonderful account, superbly illustrated with her photographs of our journey https://plantabundance.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/khotso/ This is to illustrate some of the stunning flowers, (many are endemic to South Africa and the Drakensberg), we saw along the way, by no means all of them, that would take a book!

 

Ajuga ophrydis;

 

Aponogeton ranunculiflorus;

 

Asclepias sp.;

 

Berkheya cirsiifolia;

 

Berkheya rhapontica;

 

Chironia krebsii;

 

Crassula dependens;

 

Dierama possibly latifolium;

 

Eumorphia prostrata;

 

Geranium pulchrum;

 

Geranium schlechteri;

 

Gomphostigma virgatum;

 

Hebenstretia dura;

 

Helichrysum sp.;

 

Jamesbrittenia breviflora;

 

Kniphofia ritualis;

 

Kniphofia sp. posssibly laxiflora;

 

Limosella inflata;

 

Lindernia conferta;

 

Lithospermum papillosum;

 

Lobelia preslii;

 

Lobelia vanreenensis;

 

Manulea crassifolia;

 

Melasama scabrum;

 

Moraea inclinata;

 

Moraea trifida;

 

Myosotis semiamplexicaulis;

 

Corycium nigrescens;

 

Disa brevicornis

 

Disa fragrans;

 

Disa orephila subsp. erecta;

 

Disa orephila subsp. orephila;

 

Disa patula;

 

Disa sanguinea;

 

Disa stachyoides;

 

Disa versicolor;

 

Disperis cardiphora;

 

Disperis tysonii;

 

Disperis wealei;

 

Habenaria lithophila;

 

Holothrix scopularia;

 

Holothrix thodei;

 

Satyrium longicauda and Schizochilus angustifolius;

 

Satyrium longicauda;

 

Satyrium possibly microrrhynchum;

 

Satyrium parviflorum;

 

Satyrium possibly bracteatum;

 

Schizochilus angustifolius;

 

Schizochilus bulbinella;

 

Papaver aculeatum;

 

Protea roupelliae;

 

Protea subvestita;

 

Selago galpinii;

 

Utricularia livida;

 

Wahlenbergia grandiflora;

 

Zaluziansky microsiphon;

 

Zantedeshia aethiopica