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| Backyard Bushveld in Spring (October) |
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| African Star Grass Hypoxis hemerocallidea |
No common name for this one, but it is also a member of the Asparagaceae family.
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| Chlorophytum bowkeri |
We have several common sugar bushed (Proteas) that put on a wonderful display each year, here are a couple of photos showing there different flowering stages
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| Common sugarbush Protea caffra |
A scary looking beetle helping itself to the nectar of the sugar bush
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| Hooked winged net winged beetle Lycus melanurus |
I did not expect to find any ferns in the veld, seeing as they prefer moist habitats. This one is drought tolerant and can be used for xeriscaping. Ecklon's lip fern belongs to the Adiantaceae fern family.
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| Ecklon's Lip Fern Cheilanthes eckloniona |
Everlastings are members of the Asteraceae (Daisy & Sunflower) family and is of high ornamental value as dried flowers in displays.
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| Everlasting species Helichrysum pilosellum |
Another member of the Asteraceae family. Gazania, like Gerberas, are native to South Africa and have the same showy display with colours of yellow and orange.
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| Gazania species Gazania krebsiana |
I think that this is a fairly common Gerbera to come across in SA bushvelds. A member of the Asteraceae family with many species and colours of white, pink, red, yellow, orange and purples.
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| Pink and white Gerbera Gerbera ambigua |
Both of these plant belong to the Solanaceae family, with the poison apple in the same genus (Solanum) as tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, nightshade and peppers. The spiky poison apple (or gifappeltjie in Afrikaans) is often confused with the Cape Gooseberry (note different genus, Physalis), where the former is very poisonous and the later is edible. The Gooseberries appeared in 2012 and made a large stand in the veld - their berries didn't ripen properly, so none for us L.
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| Poison apple Solanum panduriforme |
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| Cape gooseberry Physalis peruviana |
Nothing much is known about this group of flowering plants, but they do have pretty flowers. They belong to the Colchicaceae family of lilies.
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| Spikelily Wurmbea spicata |
The Syringa (Oleaceae family) is a highly invasive species. It has been removed since the photo was taken as it was sending roots into the pumpkin patch.
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| Syringa Melia azederach |
This is the showiest of the veld flowers. This is a poisonous bulb of the Amaryllidaceae family (Alliums) and has lovely fan-like leaves.
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| Tumbleweed Boophane disticha |
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| Tumbleweed Boophane disticha |
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| Tumbleweed fan Boophane disticha |
I am going to dump a bunch of photos here, because I can't seem to ID them as my ID booklet is limited :)
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| I have know idea what this is, but the insects (especially the bees) are crazy about the flowers. Will see if I can propagate some for myself. |
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| I think I have seen some of these as bright red additions to cut flowers. |
Here are a few more plants and critters I came across later in the season (March).
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| Bushveld in Autumn |
Wild African Cucumber species. Very spiky and horridly bitter!!!
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| African Horned cucumber vine Cucumis species |
African lantana species, which have edible ripe berries (green ones are mildly poisonous).
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| African Lantana species |
A serious weed and the bane of all bush walks, the Blackjack, Bidens species.
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| Blackjack Bidens species |
Cute bright yellow butterfly...
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| Broad bordered Grass Yellow butterfly Eurema brigitta |
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| The Chickens chilling in the brush |
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| Wild Amaranth Amaranthus species |
Again, another unknown dump of Autumn beauties:
That's the end of our backyard bushveld safari! Hope you enjoyed the journey through some of the native plants of South Africa. If you would like to see more of our native wildlife, check out My Profile @ Project Noah!
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