NAMAQUALAND FLOWERS

Dry veld (fields, countryside) in February near Soebotsfontein

The same veld in August filled with pink Mesembryanthemum flowers (Aizoaceae)

 

Various daisies (Asteraceae) and wild flaxes (Brassicaceae) on the Kamiesberg plateau

 

Ursinia (Asteraceae), Nababiep

 

This is a dry river bed most of the year, Wallekraal

 

Three varieties of daisies (Asteraceae); the yellow Cotula has no petals, the deep blue is Felicia

 

Arum or Calla lilies (Araceae) find homes in damp clefts in the rocky hills of Namaqualand

 

Red granite, chemical staining from periodic water flow, group of tiny white Cotula

 

Yellow Ursinia (annual) and wine-red Lapeirousia (Iridaceae, perennial) thrive in a long rock fissure

 

Cotula and Lapeirousia line the geometric cracks in a rock face, where wind deposits sufficient soil

 

One of more than 150 species of “vygies” or Mesembryanthemum (Aizoaceae) that grow in Namaqualand

 

Yellow Grielum (Neurodaceae) and blue Felicia (Asteraceae) carpet the veld south of Nababiep

 

Perennial Pauridia (Hypoxidaceae) blooms every year on this lichen-covered rock face

 

Hyobanche (Orobanche), a parasitic plant growing on roots of shrubs

 

Tiny lilies (Hyacinthaceae) in a dry pool of Crassula natans (Crassulaceae)

 

Gladiolus equitans (Iridaceae) in typical habitat on the Kamiesberg plateau

 

Seasonal pool near Leliefontein; mostly Pauridia aquatica (Hypoxidaceae) in flower

 

Babiana (Iridaceae) clings to a rock face in Groenpas

 

Tiny Morea (Iridaceae) carpet the veld neat Teunis se Dam

 

Expanses of various daisies (Asteraceae) at Goegap Nature Reserve near Springbok

 

One of several Lachenalia species (Iridaceae), a bulbous perennial

 

Pelargonium echinatum (Geranaceae) in typical habitat near Bokleikraal

 

Pink Oxalis (Oxalidaceae) in typical habitat, Kamiesberg plateau

 

Fields of mixed wild flowers, Kamiesberg plateau

 

Yellow Grielum (Neurodaceae) and a beige Arctotis (Asteraceae) near Beenbreek

 

Field of mixed daisies (Asteraceae species), Kamiesberg plateau