Plants of South Africa
- A Web Page by
Roy Beckemeyer
Last Updated 23 February 2005
Left: Sugar cane fields are widespread in coastal KwaZulu-Natal. The
fields have replaced much of the natural vegetation.
Right: The coastal forest vegetation. Much of the region would have
once looked like this.
Left: Palm trees in Hluhluwe Game Preserve.
Right: A foxglove growing in Hluhluwe Game Preserve.
Left: A palm in Mkhuse Game Preserve.
Right: A drawing and painting of a species of Dierama, an African
Harebell. The picture is from the book "Dierama: The Harebells of
Africa" by O.M. Hilliard and B.L. Burt, and the illustration is by A.
Batten (1991, Acorn Books, Johannesburg & London). The plants are in
the Iris family, Iridaceae. Pat had seen Dierama growing in gardens
in England and fell in love with the plants. We wanted very much to see
them in bloom in the wild in Africa, but were afraid that we might be too late
as most of the species seem to bloom in spring. The book indicated that
some species might still be in bloom, especially in the high veld. The
ones growing in the garden at Toad Hall, the guest house we stayed at in
Wakkerstroom, had already gone to seed. Fortunately, on our last evening
in the area, we found a hillside slope covered with grass and Dierama. We
could not get close to the flowers because of a deep drainage ditch between the
road and the hillside, but looked at the flowers through binoculars and
photgraphed them (left and right below).
