Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog: Smedmore Umtamvuna (4 February 2021)

We decided to explore Smedmore as when looking back through records we hadn't gone there for a while and yet it had felt like yesterday that we had. It's an area where there is both grassland and forest which makes for great botanising as one can dip into both areas with ease.

It was hot and so we were swayed quite easily into first botanising in the coolth of the forest where moss grows on huge rocks and it's difficult to identify a tree as the trunks lengthen up into the sky as does the tree in "The Magic Far-away Tree" by Enid Blyton. The only clue is perhaps finding seeds or flowers that have fallen. It's the most beautiful area and one does not have to go very far at all on foot as there is so much to see, the only challenge is the steepness.

On the forests edge we saw Tritonia disticha both in white and its usual orange flame colour. Graham had told me that the white form which I had spotted two weeks up in Oribi Gorge was mainly found in the Eastern Cape. It goes by the same name regardless of colour.

It was lovely to see the Crocosmia aurea flowering in dappled shade, it's so delicate and whimsical and it's a flower that always brings me joy when seeing it. I spotted the tiny Polygala macowaniana growing in a little lush bed of compost between rocks. Dorothy pointed out how to identify it easily depending on if it had a "boat" or not.

Disperis anthoceros grew in the shade and Peperomia retusa clung onto rock edges. We had to take out our magnifying glasses to see flowers/seed. It was minuscule.

We had to narrowly miss a Kite spider who dangled in front of faces as we didn't want to disturb her web that she had so carefully crafted.

Streptocarphus formosus were on show and flowering away and we then found Steptocarphus haygarthii a little higher up when we exited the forest floor. Liparis bowkeri, Hypoxis membranaceus, Stenoglottis macloughnii and Stenoglottis fimbriata were nestled deeply on the cliff's edge where if one wasn't sure footed one could accidentally fall stories below and probably never to be found. It was a risk worth taking as to find and see these wonders that grow where man does not tread is such a joy.

We had cautiously crawled out of the forest on all fours and saw Cryptolepis capensis and Faurea macnaughtonii in flower. As soon as we reached the grasslands, we were devoured by scurrying large ants which raced in every direction like rush-hour traffic leaving us smearing our legs and boots with Vicks hoping that it would deter them from crawling up into our clothes. We all looked like we where doing the gum-boot dance. They ended up being the game changer as they were such a menace that we decided to call it a day, we had seen wonderful things and headed peacefully home.

Cryptolepis capensis

Faurea macnaughtonii

Monsonia natalensis

Crassula pellucida subsp brachypetala

Tritonia disticha in white

Tritonia disticha

Crocosmia aurea

Dorothy - The photo was taken from within a cave.

A Kite spider

Rachel looking down at the wonders below from great heights.

A mock absail holding onto roots decending.

Peperomia retusa

Thunbergia pupurata

Streptocarpus haygarthii

Dorothy photographing Streptocarpus haygarthii.

Streptocarpus formosus

Stenoglottis macloughlinii

Stenoglottis fimbriata

Liparis remota

Hypoxis membranaceus

Pachycarpus grandiflorus subsp. grandiflorus

Inspecting for pollination of the Pachycarpus grandiflorus subsp. grandiflorus

A huge fruit capsule of a Pachycarpus species.

Pachycarpus coronarius

Monanthotaxis caffra

Anne was telling Simon who joined us that the way the Southbroom Conservancy taught the staff when observing this tree was in turning over its leaf and seeing that it was blue like money and that one needed it to catch a taxi. It's small things like this that one remembers the plants name by.