On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Mike S. etc
I shared some pics from my South African trip a few weeks ago. I want to get to the mre birds soon, but meanwhile I had this set of pictures of geophytes* mostly ready to go so I thought I would share them first as I don’t know whn I’ll get time to do the birds and Capettown region for you all.
Il ove geophytes, i.e. plants with underground food and water storage organs, but I didn’t get to see many in bloom on my trip as we were at the wrong time and in the wrong place for many, BUT we did see the leaves of many differnt kinds and believe me they aren’t your average daffodill or snowdrop foliage!
I only have names for a few of these and only guesses for a few more, but I love them all as they display their adaptation to harsh sunlight and intermitent rainfall.
Brunsvigia bosmaniae, (Amaryllidaceae)
This species grows absolutely flat on the ground, maybe to say out of the wind or to avoid herbivores, although most of this family like daffodils and srowdrops are toxic or at least distasteful to grazing animals.
Another flatty. Albuca secundus, (Hyacinthaceae)
I don;t know what this one was but it reminded me of a starfish in a tide-pool!
Now we get to my very favs, the curly and wavy-leaved ones. I have no clue what species many of these are, but the flowers couldn’t possibly be more beautiful than the leaves.
I love the shadows of the curly leaves on this plant.
This one looks like it’s made to be a curly ribbon on a St. Patrick’s Day present, maybe?
Obvioulsly looking like lasagna noodles is a usefull adaptation, but I’ don’t have a clue why it is. We saw several plants with wavy edged leaves like this.
Then there was this one that is a combo of curly and wavy edged!
And here we have curly combined with white fur. A very stylish look IMHO.
Last but definitely my favorite, the pair of plants that absolutely looks like a design for a very classy piece of jewelry.
I have room for one more pic, so here is one geophyte we saw in bloom in several places, Lapeirousia silenoides.. It does have exotic looking, fan-like flower bracts hiding the flower buds, but the color is so eyecatching, that I had to take lots of pics of this species too.
Baud
Those are interesting leaves.
Gloria DryGarden
I love the curlicue plants, and the term “flatty”. Most of all, that particular shape of deep fuschia rocks my world. I love it even more than purple. It looks similar to a primrose
eclare
Those curly plants are fascinating.
Steve in the ATL
Cape Town is just amazing
Rachel Bakes
Beautiful.
Rusty
I’m loving the curled and wavy leaves, what fascinating plants.
Kabecoo
Beautiful. There is an albuca (spiralis I think) that I’ve killed before. It sure had that look to it, but your photos show such variety that they might be unrelated.
oldster
Evolution, man. It will find a way.
Very cool pics!
WendyBinFL
Thanks so much, Mike! The leaves are fascinating, and your photographs are superb. I’m sharing this post with my family and friends!
marklar
Super cool, and great eye for details!
Torrey
Wonderful pictures. Surely there is someone with botanical training here on BJ who can tell us what the evolutionary heck is going on with some of these structures? In the meantime, I had no idea such amazing plants existed and am glad to be better informed. Also, I want that piece of jewelry.
No One of Consequence
The first few pics I was thinking, flora-post-elephant…
Beautiful images. The diversity of life never ceases to astound me. (Tried to grow a curly-que plant a few years back but didn’t have much success.)
-NOoC
Mike in Oly
I would hazard a guess that those way and curly leaf forms would be ideal for capturing moisture from fog and encouraging it into the plants root zone. Could be wrong. Fabulous diversity!
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
Thanks Everyone,
I too have treid to grow a few of the South African bulbs with cury leaves, and even the ones that have lived for a few years have never been as curly as the ones in the wild. I guess it may be related to light intensity.
@Mike in Oly: There are many plants in the area that do catch fog, which is a significant source of water for them, especially close to the coast. For these may be it helps them keep any dew they collect closer to theit roots.
pieceofpeace
Absolutely fabulous! Both the artistic figures formed by the plant and the photographer.
The plants are cacti-type?
stinger
Wow! Thank you so much for photos of these amazing plants! I had no idea such forms existed!
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@pieceofpeace: Thanks. No, they are all “bulbs” with underground storage parts a.k.a. gephytes (ground lovers) which may be true bulbs like onions or daffodils or corms or tubers, which are swollen ,”leaf bases, stems, , or roots respectively.
Albatrossity
Wonderful pics of amazing plants! Thanks for these, and bring on the birds!
arrieve
Oh I love those curly leaves. Life is so cool!
StringOnAStick
I love a fellow plant nerd! Hey, I think the 4th photo is Albuca spiralis; Logee’s sells a variety they call Frizzle Sizzle that looks exactly like this, and I thought about it but you need an intensely sunny window and a light hand with watering. All your photos are very cool! I know the furry leaves adaptation id to reduce evapotranspiration from the plant surface; it creates the most micro of microclimates around the leaf surface and also reduces the intensity of the sun that reaches the leaf surface.
munira
Amazing plants – I love the photo of the curly one and its shadow. Thanks for a really interesting post.
WaterGirl
Amazing!