Show us your African flora...

[Game Warden]

Trees, shrubs, bushes, plants and flowers, grass species etc. Please include common name and binomial nomenclature if known, and any background info i.e., where one is likely to see it etc.

 

Also tech specs. Help some of us identify plant species we see on safari.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Seniortraveller]

I would be interested to know what this is. Found it on the banks of the river in Balule, Greater Kruger and thought it was very striking looking. For some reason it made me think of sea holly, but I really don't have a clue.

[inyathi]

@@Seniortraveller I think unfortunately your plant is probably an illegal immigrant by the name of Mexican Poppy Argemone mexicana which has become something of an invasive weed in many parts of Africa.

[Seniortraveller]

Oh dear, not what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for identifying it for me though.

[Tom Kellie]

 

Photographed in Tsavo West National Park, Kenya on 21 January, 2015 at 9:11 am with an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super telephoto lens.

 

ISO 100, 1/800 sec., f/2.8, 400mm, handheld Manual exposure.

 

~ We were driving on a less used track leading from the Ngulia Hills to the Mtito Andei Gate in order to see a different part of the park. Several minutes later we were surrounded by a large pack of Lycaon pictus, Wild Dogs.

 

The shoulders of the track were brightened by white heliotrope and the purple blooms of Vernonia oligocephala.

 

The safari van paused for a few images, despite the morning's steady pace to reach the Mombasa Highway.

 

Pleasing color combinations touch me, whether bird plumage, mineral-bearing rock or botanical specimens. The contrast between the purple blooms and the red earth appealed to me.

 

No pollinators are visible in this image, but we observed butterflies on other clumps of Vernonia oligocephala.

 

My patient guide, Anthony Gitau, graciously stops for my all-too-frequent requests for wildflower photos, with nary a complaint.

 

On a safari late last year I was told in an open-air lodge lounge that ‘there's so little to see’. With wildflowers added to the mix of antelope, cats, assorted birds, reptiles and the like, what's not to see?

[Patty]

Have you posted any trip reports @@Tom Kellie?

 

Taken near Chania Falls in the Aberdares, Kenya. Please help ID, thanks.

 

Here's more of the plant.

[ovenbird]

Found on the forest floor in Kakum NP Ghana. I suspect it is a parasite living off the roots of a tree? A very cool flower/plant!

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

 

Carduus keniensis, Giant Thistle.

It's an endemic to Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares.

I've never seen it, but your fine image brings it to life!

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To answer your question, @@Patty, as I've only become active in Safaritalk within the past week or two, I'm reading and learning about trip reports.

As soon as possible I'll prepare one.

[Patty]

Thanks for the ID @@Tom Kellie and looking forward to your first report!

[Game Warden]

A few from my Kilimanjaro Climb in 2005, (trip report here)

 

Scadoxus multiflorus, the African Blood Lily.

Giant Senecios

[Tom Kellie]

 

~ Hi, @@ovenbird!

 

That IS one cool flower!

Is there another one emerging from the soil at the upper right?

Looking at it, what comes to mind — this is joking — is the three-way love child of a protea, a dwarf torch ginger and a bromeliad.

Self-evidently it's none of the above, yet shares in certain of their taxonomic characteristics.

I've been looking at it on my iMac screen asking myself why it seems vaguely familiar.

If only my late mother were living, I'd ask her. She had such a clear sense of rarer tropical botanical species, many of which she nurtured in her gardens at Haena, west of Hanalei, Kauai.

I've never been to West Africa and an epiphytic plant with such a flamboyant bloom on the forest floor is unlike anything in my memory.

Yet it seems familiar...

In any case, thanks so much for sharing such an exceptional flower!

Tom K.

[ovenbird]

Thanks, Tom. Yes, that is another "flower" popping up. In fact these little guys were popping up all over the forest floor! I do like your idea of a three-way love child...very descriptive!

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Game Warden, your Kilimanjaro climb plants are cool!

 

One of the realities of being a newbie in any field is the fact that even the most elementary aspects are surprising and curious, because hitherto unknown.

Like a three-week old predator cub stumbling around outside the den, the novice reacts to that which seasoned adults long ago ceased to notice.

Yet one who is green as grass doesn't much mind their lack of sophistication, because a world all fresh and new is beguiling.

Despite having enjoying Mt. Kilimanjaro's vista several times, I've never actually been near its foothills, let alone climbed it.

Thus your photos are one of those “Who knew?” revelations for me.

There are tree ferns on those slopes? Super-sized senecios? African blood lilies with ferns?

Ah, to have your stamina...

I've never met a tree fern that I didn't like. Something about tree ferns and dragonflies flips the calendar back to the late Carboniferous period.

I'm stunned that you photographed a tree fern on Kilimanjaro. Obviously I'm not getting out and around enough.

Those crazy senecios dwarf by a factor of 50x or more any senecio I ever saw around my late mother's gardens and greenhouse.

When you established this category for images I looked forward to learning more, as the botanical life I've seen in Kenya has been a highlight.

Now you've got me wondering how widespread and numerous the tree ferns might be throughout Africa. Thanks to Safaritalk, sooner or later more may be shown.

Thanks much, Matt!

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

“I do like your idea of a three-way love child...very descriptive!”

~ @ovenbird:

Who are we to judge what plant species may do together beneath the soil surface?

A three-way botanical love child might defy conventional genetics, but surely would be fascinating species!

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

 

Photographed at the Olare Gift Shop in the Loita Plains, on the road from Masai Mara to Ewaso Ngiro, Kenya, on 22 August, 2014 at 11:08 am, with a Sony RX1 R camera.

 

ISO 100, 1/125 sec., f/7.1, 35mm, handheld Manual exposure.

 

On previous safaris I'd noticed Coccinia trilobata growing beside buildings and fences, typically in semi-shaded locations.

 

Those traveling the road between Masai Mara and Narok often have a rest stop at the Olare Gift Stop, which is popular with safari guides. While the swap tales with one another, guests watch the weavers in the low acacia branches under which safari vans park.

 

Wandering around the graveled parking area, I spotted this lone bloom. A Kenya and Tanzania endemic, Coccinia trilobata is a vine from the melon family which is planted as a food crop, as in lean times its nutritional value is needed.

 

One of my bad habits on safaris is pestering Anthony to stop the safari van in order to photograph a vine I spot. Vines have a certain grace which I admire, wending their way toward the blue sky overhead.

[Tom Kellie]

 

Photographed at Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya on 21 August, 2014 at 1:22 pm, with a Sony RX1 R camera.

 

ISO 100, 1/640 sec., f/9, 35mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.

 

Cycnium tubulosum, or Wastepaper Flower, is a sub-Saharan endemic. It's semi-parasitic on grass roots, thus it thrives on Masai Mara's plains.

 

This flower is widespread, in certain seasons and locations the only flower in sight.

 

Twice I've observed seated baboons contentedly plucking Cycnium tubulosum flowers, daintily eating them as if dining with a duchess at the Ritz.

 

I like this flower because it's evolved to fit a specialized ecological niche, bringing floral beauty to otherwise grass-only areas.

[graceland]

Not as exotic as above, but a welcome sight after a very dry and dusty week in Mana...

 

Upon landing in Kariba, I was overwhelmed by this flowering shrub....everywhere.

 

Kariba was very green and lush as opposed to Mana; perfect for elephants and an occasional lion!

 

 

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

 

~ @@graceland, that's beautiful! I've never seen them, except in books.

 

• Adenium multiflorum

Didn't realize that it would be widespread and profuse in Zimbabwe.

Intense colors in your photo grab one;s attention. Seeing it in person after a safari must have been a joy.

Really, really like the vibrant colors!

Tom K.

[Peter Connan]

The Impala Lily is quite popular as a garden plant in the drier regions, a practise I personally applaud!

 

Edited April 2, 2015 by Peter Connan

[graceland]

Adenium multiflorum.jpg

 

~ @@graceland, that's beautiful! I've never seen them, except in books.

 

• Adenium multiflorum

Didn't realize that it would be widespread and profuse in Zimbabwe.

Intense colors in your photo grab one;s attention. Seeing it in person after a safari must have been a joy.

Really, really like the vibrant colors!

Tom K.

@@Tom Kellie

 

Tom, thank you as aways for your very kind words as always. You are very generous.

 

I knew it was a Lily, but not quite sure the African name, so thank you @@Peter Connan; but now I feel like deleting my dowdy pic.

 

Yours looks like it jumped right out of a "Magnificent Gardens of the Word' type glossy!

[marg]

I have photos of plants, flowers and trees in Africa. Does anyone know of a good reference book or app? I cannot find one or identify some of my photos.

[Peter Connan]

Thank you @@graceland, but please don't delete yours.

I just had the luck to be able to shoot mine in the golden light of dawn, while you had to take what you got.

[Soukous]

Here are a few of the colourful flora we get in the Klein Karoo

 

Acacia Karoo (Sweet Thorn)

 

Chinese Lantern Tree (at least that's what I call it)

 

Aloe

 

[Soukous]

Pyjama Lily - Ngorongoro Crater

 

[graceland]

Pyjama Lily - Ngorongoro Crater

 

pyjama-lily.jpg

Love the name @Soukous; pyjama lilly. Makes one think of white fluffy pillows, comfy comforters, breeze through the window. Too bad I'm still up.

 

I think I saw one in Botswana. Need to go find it.