Thank you , Christiaan, for the wonderful photographs. The plants appear remarkably unfazed by the drought - geophytes showing their resilience in their native environment. What appears to be the pure sand they're growing in has a texture that is foreign to me. Thanks for sharing. I think many of us dream of visiting South Africa some day during the height of the local geophyte bloom season. Mike cool Mediterranean, US where first bloom of* Narcissus minor* 'Cedric Morris', and* Nothoscordum dialystemon (Ipheion dialystemon) *have opened in an unheated greenhouse. On Tue, Dec 17, 2019 at 6:06 PM <cvschalkwyk@lantic.net> wrote: > > > 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... > Name: Adenium_oleifolium.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 235979 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Eriospermum_1.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 66272 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Eriospermum_2.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 234930 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Eriospermum_3.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 1088332 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Ledebouria.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 2615438 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Ledebouria_flower.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 68164 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Albuca1.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 1404345 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Albuca2.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 1520691 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Unknown.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 2189276 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…
