Photo essay: Yellow flower fever

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• By Ingrid Sinclair
• 31 August 2010

The Cape Floral Kingdom is the smallest and richest on Earth and is home to an amazing 8 200 plant species … and Table Mountain is covered in them! Although spring officially starts in September (tomorrow!) some specimens have already started flowering – all mellow and yellow.

See also:

•    Photo essay: What’s flowering in August?
•    Flowering in August: Common paperflower

Photo courtesy Peter Baker

The common bonnet orchid (Pterygodium catholicum) flowers from August to November and its distribution is “occasional”, according to Common Wildflowers of Table Mountain by Hugh Clarke and Bruce Mackenzie (Struik). While the pungent flowers start out pale lemon-yellow, they turn reddish with age and three to five blossoms hang from the stem. These are “especially noticeable after fires”, says Common Wildflowers.

timparkinson

Isn’t this a spectacular close-up of a common tickberry (Chrysanthemoides monilifera) covered in dew? This common flower favours the “lower dry mountain slopes”, according to Common Wildflowers, and “unlike most daisies, bears fruit – purple berries that resemble bloated ticks, hence the common name.” Flowering from April to October, the fruit appears in groups of up to five near the ends of branches.

Peter Baker

The dainty painted yellowwort (Sabaea exacoides) is exquisite. With two short, orange-red parallel lines at the base of each of its five petals, the flower is relatively easy to identify. It flowers from July to October, “mainly on lower slopes in sandy areas,” says Common Wildflowers. Interestingly, “the orange-red parallel lines are ridged swellings, containing a sweetness that attracts insects.”