Wonderful habitat pictures, Christian. I am sure I've recently seen a picture of a species that resembles your last picture - single leaf, wavy and hairy margins. If I remember correctly, the specific epithet was indeed related to the leaf shape, but I can't remember exactly what it was (or the genus, for that matter...). I would like to introduce myself. I am a cacti and succulent grower from Portugal with many years of experience and I have recently developed an interest for southern african bulbs, especially the genus Bulbine, and joining the PBS was the natural move. I have already learned a lot from you people and expect to learn a lot more in many years to come. Cheers, Jose L Fabiao ________________________________ From: pbs <pbs-bounces@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> on behalf of cvschalkwyk@lantic.net <cvschalkwyk@lantic.net> Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2019 10:35 AM To: Pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> Subject: [pbs] Bulbs from Northern Cape, South Africa Southern Africa is experiencing one of the worst droughts ever. We are used to droughts, but the scale of this one is massive. Some parts of the country started to receive some rain, especially towards the eastern side, while most of the Northern Cape is still very dry. Some scattered showers did occur, often dumping large amounts of water in a short space of time over a limited range. One such shower happened over Upington on December the 5th, my home town, officially 65 mm (about two and a half inches), although some residents measured up to 98 mm (about 4 inches), in less than three hours. (Just for context: 65 mm is more than a third of our annual rainfall in a good year). With resultant localized flooding. Happiness for those who did get rain. Sadness for those who missed out. On the Sunday, a mere three days later, I decided to visit a local population of Adenium oleifolium, I guess more of a succulent than a geophyte, although their caudex is underground rather than above as other species of Adenium, to see whether they reacted to the rain. It seems as if they were already in leaf and some even in flower, before the rain, also I could not discern any other reaction as to flowering or growth. I revisited the locality last Sunday (10 days after the rains), still without noticeable effect. But did I find some other interesting things ! Eriospermum species: Few plants were seen on the 8th, leave and flower emerged together(Eriospermum_1). On the last visit there were hundreds of plants, I managed to find one still in flower (Eriospermum_2), the rest already boasted thick seed pods (Eriospermum_3). Only 10 days ! Ledebouria sp. The also seem to pop up with leaves and flowers together, quite a bit slower than the Eriospermum, the flowers only starting to open after 10 days. They are about 3mm in diameter. For me quite a beautiful species. Albuca (or Ornithogallum or ?) My knowledge of these genera is hopeless…. But a very attractive growth form with the twisted leaves, also starting to flower. Unknown. If I could name it, the species name would have been undulata…. Single leaves, still to flower Some other info: It is summer here. And hot. The hottest temperature in South Africa was recorded recently at Vioolsdrift (some 350 km away) at 53.2C (127.8 F) on 29 November. We did not have any follow up rains yet. The plants grow in full sun and in pure sand, I suspect a calcrete layer lower down. Christiaan van Schalkwyk Upington, South Africa -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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