Post by Christian on Nov 3, 2012 16:37:22 GMT
Hello,
our next stop to look out for carnivorous plants was the Gifberg in the north of Clanwilliam.
We drove there from Nieuwoudtville where we were staying during these days. There are some spectacular views from the Van Rhyn's Pass!
The first carnivorous plants we found there were the red form of Drosera capensis, growing together with Utricularia bisquamata on wet walls.
On the same walls you can also find some Drosera afra (or trinervia??).
We soon reached the top of the Gifberg
We started looking for Drosera alba immediately. It did not take long until we found the first plants!
Drosera alba is growing in a very thin layer of substrate! In summer this place must be bone dry and very hot. It is really remarkable, that the plants can live and survive in such condition.
The other flora there is as well very interesting. Here are just some random pictures of mostly (to me at least) unknown plants:
That day we had great luck with the weather! It was for sure one of the best days of our whole tour. The sun was shining, the temperatures were comfortable. Drosera cistiflora also seemed to like this too!
As you can see in the last picture, some of the plants have a somehow unusual growth habit. It looks like some of the plants there have divided scapes with leafs after that division. That's something i haven't seen before.
That beetle is one of the pollinators of Drosera cistiflora on Gifberg. The color is different to those we found in the Darling area. To me it looks like as if every location (if they are not too close) has it's own kind of beetles.
In one place we found a large flowered form of Utricularia bisquamata growing together with Drosera alba and Drosera afra.
The roads on top of Gifberg are not all made for normal cars, so we reached the point where we just could not drive further. So we decided to drive back and to try to drive up from the other side of the Gifberg to see how far we can come.
The first part was very step, almost too step for our car. I was glad, that the rental car company did not know what we are doing with the car. Again we reached the top a bit later. The roads from that side are mostly just sand paths. This part of the mountain has lots of agriculture. We found no carnivorous plants there.
We got closer and closer to the place where we have been already earlier that day. It was clear, that we finally will arrive somewhere close where we stopped in the morning.
In the late afternoon we found an especially nice place with Drosera alba. There we also had the chance to see open flowers of some pink flowered plants.
We finally arrived at a place where we had been in the morning, so we actually drove once over the mountain. We only missed the right turn in the morning to find this way.
Christian
our next stop to look out for carnivorous plants was the Gifberg in the north of Clanwilliam.
We drove there from Nieuwoudtville where we were staying during these days. There are some spectacular views from the Van Rhyn's Pass!
The first carnivorous plants we found there were the red form of Drosera capensis, growing together with Utricularia bisquamata on wet walls.
On the same walls you can also find some Drosera afra (or trinervia??).
We soon reached the top of the Gifberg
We started looking for Drosera alba immediately. It did not take long until we found the first plants!
Drosera alba is growing in a very thin layer of substrate! In summer this place must be bone dry and very hot. It is really remarkable, that the plants can live and survive in such condition.
The other flora there is as well very interesting. Here are just some random pictures of mostly (to me at least) unknown plants:
That day we had great luck with the weather! It was for sure one of the best days of our whole tour. The sun was shining, the temperatures were comfortable. Drosera cistiflora also seemed to like this too!
As you can see in the last picture, some of the plants have a somehow unusual growth habit. It looks like some of the plants there have divided scapes with leafs after that division. That's something i haven't seen before.
That beetle is one of the pollinators of Drosera cistiflora on Gifberg. The color is different to those we found in the Darling area. To me it looks like as if every location (if they are not too close) has it's own kind of beetles.
In one place we found a large flowered form of Utricularia bisquamata growing together with Drosera alba and Drosera afra.
The roads on top of Gifberg are not all made for normal cars, so we reached the point where we just could not drive further. So we decided to drive back and to try to drive up from the other side of the Gifberg to see how far we can come.
The first part was very step, almost too step for our car. I was glad, that the rental car company did not know what we are doing with the car. Again we reached the top a bit later. The roads from that side are mostly just sand paths. This part of the mountain has lots of agriculture. We found no carnivorous plants there.
We got closer and closer to the place where we have been already earlier that day. It was clear, that we finally will arrive somewhere close where we stopped in the morning.
In the late afternoon we found an especially nice place with Drosera alba. There we also had the chance to see open flowers of some pink flowered plants.
We finally arrived at a place where we had been in the morning, so we actually drove once over the mountain. We only missed the right turn in the morning to find this way.
Christian
