Editorial
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| Lotononis bachmannii is an eye-catching forb which flowers in Pondoland grasslands in early spring and will probably have been flowering for a while when this edition of PlantLife was published. |
In this edition we are privileged to have an article on the achievements by South African botanical artist, Daleen Roodt. She recently won a gold medal and an award for the best artwork on show at the Royal Horticultural Society's Botanical Art and Photography Exhibition from 14 June 2024 to 7 July 2024. The article is accompanied by a copy of her painting of the endangered orchid species, Satyrium rhodanthum.
We have two articles on work being done to control invasive alien plant species at the Umdoni Park estate. This led to the welcome discovery of many more of the endangered tree species Dahlgrenodendron natalense, than were previously thought to be found at this estate, an endemic species once thought to have a total population of no more than 200 individual trees.
We have three articles about plants in the Drakensberg. Jesse Kalwij gives details of how exotic plants have made their way along the road verges in Sani Pass. Clinton Carbutt discusses how pockets of non-forest woody species supplement plant diversity in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg and considers how fire suppression can be used to manage floristic diversity in mountain floras. Sandra Falanga covers her experience of exploring the Drakensberg near the Kaalvoet Vrou (Barefoot woman) monument and recording her plant sightings with posts to iNaturalist.
Richard Boon writes about the recently described member of the Celastraceae family, Mariejordaania filiformis and Sharon Louw describes a study of the orchid species Calanthe sylvatica in two locations in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal.
Finally, there is an article by Kagiso Mogajane about the VEGMAPhoto (s Afr) project on iNaturalist, which aims to refine the boundaries of different veld types in South Africa, and he hopes for input from citizen scientists.
With the impacts of climate change becoming more evident, both on international and local scales, having these sorts of studies provides us with benchmarks to compare against in the future. The flooding in the Western Cape in July 2024 is one local example of the effects of climate change, but the reports of unprecedented high temperatures in Europe and Pakistan/Afghanistan show the effects are international in scope.
Perhaps the wet winter conditions in the Western Cape will have some positive spinoff with a bumper flower season to offset the damage caused.
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