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| Riocreuxia flanaganii var. alexandrina |
During November and December of this year I had the
opportunity to take advantage of my good spatial memory. In early November we
accompanied Richard Boon to sites in the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve where he
wanted to follow up on several plants previously recorded in the reserve which
might be new and undescribed woody plant species. We were lucky to be able to
find and collect material for all his target species and we wait to see what
conclusions he arrives at after his investigations. During these explorations
we also managed to find another location for the newly described Marijordaania
filiformis.
Then between November and December we visited two sites near Highflats in KZN in an attempt to catch Riocreuxia flanaganii var. alexandrina in fruit so that a painting of this species can be completed for an article in Flowering Plants of southern Africa. Our first attempt in mid-November was only partially successful as we found several plants, but they had yet to flower; however, we marked several of these plants for ease of finding them later in the season. In December we travelled to a second site where we had previously found what we thought might be Riocreuxia flanaganii var. alexandrina, but as the plant was in fruit when found, we needed to get back to confirm its identity when it was in flower. Again, our timing was good as we found many more plants than expected, all flowering profusely. We managed to collect a specimen bearing both flowers and fruit and are happy to record another location for this Critically Endangered plant.
This year-end edition has an update on the research
on Barberetta aurea first reported in PlantLife Volume
53.4. There is an article on how specimens collected by John Acocks and now
housed in the SANBI herbarium in Pretoria have been geo-referenced. We have an
interesting article on the flora of a north-eastern corner of the Kruger
National Park, an area now managed by South African National Parks on
behalf of the Maluleke Concession holders. We have another paper on
grasslands in Maputaland. There is a contribution on two newly described Stylochaeton species
and another on the stunning Amaryllid species Crinum
bulbispermum. There is an article on some of the succulent Euphorbia species
of South Africa and another on the traditional medicinal use of the plant
species Securidaca longepedunculata. Hopefully some
interesting reads for the new year.
In December, the Botanical Education Trust announced the award of over R170 000 to support, amongst other projects, the production of the soon-to-be-released book The Complete Guide to Indigenous Garden Plants of South Africa by Elsa Pooley, Geoff Nichols and Andrew Hankey.
Other recipients represent a variety of institutions from across the country, and it is very positive that two are promising young botanists, one from Stellenbosch University, and the other from Wits. Willem Froneman, also of Wits University, received a further grant for his book on Barleria in South Africa, and Pieter Bester of the South African Biodiversity Institute will undertake a much-needed taxonomic revision of the genus Nemesia. Craig Peter of Rhodes University aims to ground truth the relative importance of butterflies in pollinating nectar plants identified by Citizen Scientists using their iNaturalist observations.
PlantLife wishes all our readers a peaceful festive season and may we all weather the current turbulent times with aplomb in 2025.
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