CREW OUTINGS in JULY 2018
6 July – Paardeberg – Outside Malmesbury on the farm Fynbos Estate. Gurli and myself ( FoTH) combined with Petra from BCA tackle the search of the special Erica hippurus (EN) after a 4×4 route we have to walk and fight our path open, bundu bashing 100 m down the area to find the Erica. It took us 2 hours fighting the thick bush. Lucky Petra found it. The rest of the team work in different areas in the mountain. We all together found 3 VU, 6 EN, 3 NT.
19 July Blaauwberg – FoTH join BCA to check the Eastern slopes of Blaauwberg Hill. We found 4 VU, 1 NT and one special, status still insufficient information. On our way out we found Babiana villosula(EN) Muraltia brevicornu (VU) and Serruria fasciflora (NT) next to the road in a area for future development. We hope that the City may be able to negotiate a corridor that stretches from Blaauwberg to Van Schoorsdrift, East of the N7.
Durbanville Race Course – 2014 Hedi wrote on the site form- Knee high grasses smothering the vegetation, it is still the same even worst! More than half of the plants on the list we could not find. The vegetation is in a very bad state. We found 1 CR, 1 NT and 1 EN.
Report back of June 2018 outing
31 May – Belated information. Outing to Klipheuwel-Telkom
Swartland Shale Renosterveld.
The Endangered Marasmodes dummeri and Ruschia diversifolia – Vulnerable was found. New on the list
Pauridia minuta.
8-10 June CREW Workshop at Wortelgat. Wortelgat is just outside Hermanus close to Stanford. All the CREW teams from Nieuwoudtville to PE about 10 CREW teams were present. All gave there feedbacks of a years work and show their photos. One interesting talk was about Historical photos to help with vegetation changes. A lot to learn in the difference between recent and old photos.
28 June – Burgerspost . On a perfect sunny day we visit 3 different sites on the Burgerpost area on the Cloof Wine Estate between Malmesbury and Darling. Ismail from SANBI asked us to look for the special Oxallis levis who grows in white clay. All geared up in Wellies we search all over between other Oxallis species nearly look the same. I’m happy to say, we found it and our own Gurli from FOTH was the lucky one who saw it.
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Report back of April outing.
April 2018
6 April: Rietvlei Nature Reserve: One of the plants on our target (“to find”) list for the year is endangered Kewa trachysperma, last collected in 1950 but seen at Kommetjie in 2015. As the flowering period is till end of April we took the opportunity to look at Rietvlei NR to see if we could spot it here as well. Unfortunately we could not find it but saw a lovely display of Haemanthus coccineus and Amaryllis belladonna instead. Various other plants not previously listed were seen as well, amongst which were Passerina paludosa EN and two plants of Leucadendron levisanus EN.
13 April: Uitkamp Wetlands: a visit was made to the Uitkamp wetlands by some of the FOTH & BCA Crew – a further 6 species were added to the plant list.
20 April: Van Schoorsdrift Conservation Area (halfway to Malmesbury, off the N7). This outing was mainly to check for the leaves of the mystery Albuca found by Abraham Saaiman (Senior Ranger) in January. We did locate the plantlets but the leaves had just emerged probably due to the recent rains and were still too small for collection. Although the area was very dry we found a good population of Erepsia patula VU flowering and many Tulbaghia alliacea. The recent good rains should make our next planned visit here in May very interesting.
Another of our target plants is Erica malmesburiensis and the type specimen comes from “Preekstoel” in the Malmesbury area dated 1976. Seeing we were already halfway to Malmesbury we decided to continue our quest to try and see if we could find this locality (in 1976 no GPS was available yet). We had a vague idea where it should be from an old atlas (the Internet could not help). We managed to find it and were lucky enough to talk to the owner of the farm and thus establish contact. There was still a bit of time left in the afternoon to check out the nearby granite outcrop with natural vegetation and thus we saw a good population of Eriospermum spirale VU growing in the rocky depressions as well as an endangered Antimima species. We will go there again in spring and in November to try and find the elusive Erica.
Hedi Stummer
27-4-2018
11 May Jakobuskraal- close to Yzerfontein: Our first outing to this Nature Reserve. The Nature Reserve is divided in different plots; some of them are used as small holdings under strict rules.
We add 39 species to the list 17 of them are Red Data listed.
25 May Koeberg Nature Reserve- We walked only the burned area. The burn takes place in 2016. Some of the interesting plants that we found which are Gethyllis cilliaris sub cilliaris with fruit- Koekemakranka
Serruria fasciflora ( more than 160 plants at 2 different places)
Leucospermum tomentosum and Leucospermum hypophylocarpodendron all Proteas
10 new species added to the list
Previous reports;
Langerug, Boland Agricultural High School Reserve, Wellington, an important site for Leucadendron stellare CR. We were able to add 52 more species to the plant list. Special of those were Lachenalia contaminata NT and Indigofera psoraloides EN.
13 October: Van Schoorsdrift site near the Ostrich Farm off the N7 and the Morning Star Airfield. Specials added were Lampranthus tenuifolius CR, Gethyllis ciliaris ciliaris NT, Protea scolymocephala VU, as well as a total of 56 newly seen species.
20 October: Joostenbergkloof East a site now under the management of City of Cape Town Biodiversity Branch. This was our first visit to this corner of the site. We recorded 133 species here, 14 of which are red data with Cliffortia acockiae, Watsonia strictiflora, Podalyria microphylla all CR endangered.
27 October: Banghoek Conservancy, Old Bethlehem Farm, Stellenbosch: A first visit by us to this site belonging to the Simonsberg Conservancy. A total of 143 plant species were listed, 5 of which are red-listed. No CREW is working so far in the Stellenbosch area, we find it important to try and include these sites especially after burns to check the upcoming vegetation.
9 November: Van Schoorsdrift 23 plant species were newly added, of which 5 are red-listed: Heterorhachis aculeata VU, first time ever seen by us in our areas, as well as Lampranthus reptans, Aspalathus recurva, Aspalathus ternata, Lachnaea grandiflora
10 November: Langerug: We noted 20 additional plant species, one of which is Pelargonium viccifolium EN, bringing the total to 36 red data seen on this site over 5 visits, with 290 species recorded so far. Troubling is the large number of game on the site and the sustainability of the vegetation thus impacted.
17 November: Wemmershoekvlei. We noted with concern the explorational drilling for water by the City of Cape Town in the most sensitive part of the wetland, the site where Erica alexandri, Erica bakeri and Diastella buekii (all CR) are growing. Further up the hill we found Merciera tenuifolia VU and a Lampranthus sp (sent in to Compton Herbarium for identification). A total of 470 species have been listed here, with 26 red data of which 5 are endangered and 6 are CR endangered.
1 December: Paarl Mnt NR, annual demographic monitoring of Argyrolobium angustifolium CR with Ismail Ebrahim as well as checking out a nearby site for this elusive Pea.
FOTH CREW report-back for January 2018
12 January Van Schoorsdrift A quick visit with Abraham Saaiman to check out a possibly new Albuca sp resulted in an observation of Phylica thunbergiana EN and Macrostylis villosa villosa EN flowering at this time. The Albuca is presently being queried with John Manning. A total of 251 spp listed so far for this site of which 24 are red-listed
26 January Briers Louw NR Demographic monitoring of Metalasia schlechteri helped by the SANBI CREW. All of the 70 monitored plants were checked for their status and those not listed previously were added. Of the approximately 100 plants listed now, 26 are dead, 17 could not be found, 21 plants not, or poorly flowering. The prognosis is not good for this species which we have not found anywhere else so far.
Hedi Stummer
FOTH CREW REPORT FOR 2017
FOTH CREW is an active group of 7 dedicated members, three of which (headed by Petra Broddle) are also part of the BCA CREW. One of our group, Jan Wicht, keeps an eye on various sites in the Durbanville area so there is more time for FOTH to venture forth looking at areas unsupported by CREW or to assist other CREW groups starting up. Our way of operating is to look at the total vegetation of a site and to list all the plants we recognize. Every visit is recorded, newly seen plants added, giving an overall picture of diversity over time. We additionally note the phenology of species, so it is possible to see when they are no longer there.
Our main concern in 2017 was the decline of Metalasia schlechteri CR, a plant we had discovered in February 2012 at Briers Louw NR, Agter Paarl and which we had been monitoring since 2013. Due to the drought many of these 70 plants were dying or dead. Those surviving had not produced sufficient or viable seed. Although we have been looking around this plant only seems to grow on this site and nowhere else.
A site close by is Langerug Private NR, belonging to the Boland Agricultural High School in Agter Paarl. We did not find the endangered Metalasia here but discovered a flourishing population of Leucadendron stellare CR and were encouraged by the site’s diversity to do further visits through the year. This resulted in a plant list recording 290 species of which 36 species are Red Data e.g. Pelargonium viccifolium EN, Moraea versicolor VU, Lachenalia contaminata . Troubling here is the large amount of game and its impact on the vegetation.
Wemmershoekvlei was visited in April to check the burn of 2 years back. We saw new growth of Erica alexandri CR flowering, which was reassuring as everything else was very dry and the wetland totally dried up.
On a visit in November we noted with concern the explorational drilling for water by the City of Cape Town in the most sensitive part of the wetland, the site where Erica alexandri, Erica bakeri and Diastella buekii (all CR) are growing. Lampranthus schlechteri CR was found flowering in the white sands slightly higher up. So far a total of 470 species have been listed here, with 26 red data of which 5 are EN and 6 CR endangered.
The Botanical survey on Tygerberg Hill is ongoing: The object was and still is to assess the effect of the drought on the vegetation: We were happy to see Geissorhiza erosa EN in a mass display with Lachenalia mediana mediana VU and Babiana fragrans NT close by.
We joined Swartland CREW for two visits to “Heuningberg” an isolated mountain ridge between Riebeek West and Porterville. Although our visit end of September was already too late for spring flowering we managed to find remnants of Babiana secunda, Pelargonium chelidonium and Moraea tulbahensis all EN.
Another outing with the Swartland CREW went to “Die Eiland” at 24-Rivieren near Porterville to assess and record the spring flowers there. This Swartland Shale Renosterveld site was absolutely pristine and a joy to visit. More visits over the seasons are required here.
New sites visited in 2017:
Klapmuts Water Works Treatment Plant proved rewarding: we discovered Geissorhiza purpurascens EN growing there between the Port Jackson as well as Protea burchellii VU and Leucadendron lanigerum EN. This is a site that needs more of our input and will be revisited in 2018.
Van Schoorsdrift halfway to Malmesbury, off the N7: This now falls under the Greater Tygerberg Area and huge efforts are being made to restore it, clearing the alien vegetation and and fencing the site. Some of the Specials seen were Lampranthus tenuifolius CR in various shades, Gethyllis ciliaris ciliaris NT and Heterorhachis aculeata VU (a first for us).
Banghoek Conservancy, Old Bethlehem Farm, Stellenbosch. No CREW is working so far in the Stellenbosch area, we find it important to try and include these sites especially after burns to check the upcoming vegetation. One of the species seen was Skiatophyton tripolium VU
Our year ended with the Annual Demographic Monitoring on Paarl Mnt NR of Argyrolobium angustifolium CR with Ismail Ebrahim and Randal. Tiny plants, difficult to find, some with flowers were looked for and measured.
Summary for 2017: 40 visits were made to 25 sites.
THANK YOU TO ALL!
Hedi Stummer
24-1-2018