Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

When I was faster i was always behind.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

This blog will pay for itself.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On The Road – Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) – Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa.

On The Road – Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) – Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa.

by | 22 Comments

This post is in: ,

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.

Submit Your Photos

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.

 

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 9
Namaqualand, South Africa

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.

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 8
Namaqualand, South africa

Another flatty.  Albuca secundus, (Hyacinthaceae)

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 7
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South africa

I don;t know what this one was but it reminded me of a starfish in a tide-pool!

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 6
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

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.

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 5
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

This one looks like it’s made to be a curly ribbon on a St. Patrick’s Day present, maybe?

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 4
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

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.

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 3
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

Then there was this one that is a combo of curly and wavy edged!

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 2
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

And here we have curly combined with white fur. A very stylish look IMHO.

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa. 1
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

Last but definitely my favorite, the pair of plants that absolutely looks like a design for a very classy piece of jewelry.

On The Road - Mike S. (now with a Democratic Congressperson!) - Some very interesting leaves in Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa.
Namaqualand, Western Cape, South Africa

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.

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  2. 2.

    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

  7. 7.

    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.

  9. 9.

    WendyBinFL

    Thanks so much, Mike! The leaves are fascinating, and your photographs are superb. I’m sharing this post with my family and friends!

  11. 11.

    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.

  12. 12.

    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

  13. 13.

    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!

  14. 14.

    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.

  15. 15.

    pieceofpeace

    Absolutely fabulous!  Both the artistic figures formed by the plant and the photographer.

    The plants are cacti-type?

  16. 16.

    stinger

    Wow! Thank you so much for photos of these amazing plants! I had no idea such forms existed!

  17. 17.

    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.

  20. 20.

    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.

  21. 21.

    munira

    Amazing plants – I love the photo of the curly one and its shadow. Thanks for a really interesting post.

Comments are closed.