A Visit to Kirstenbosch

Our fabulous South Africa garden tour is drawing to an end, but heading to our destination on Day 12, I feel that familiar sense of anticipation I experience walking through the entrance of London’s RHS Kew Gardens or New York Botanical Garden.   For like those august centres of botanical excellence, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town has long been a mecca for passionate horticulturists from every corner of the globe.  Situated on the lower eastern slope of Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch’s designed gardens cover 36 hectares (89 acres), which are a small part of the entire 528 hectare (1305 acre) Kirstenbosch estate including large mountainside tracts of the protected Cape Floral Kingdom vegetation known as fynbos, as well as natural forests. The map below shows the central gardens and the adjacent mountain estate.

01-Map-Kirstenbosch

Coming through the entrance, we are treated to a “What’s in Bloom” display: such a wonderful idea, and one that many public gardens have adopted to help educate visitors.  Looking at the contents of the little vases, I cannot wait to get outside.

02-What's in Bloom-Kirstenbosch

We have a half-day scheduled here, but I’ve already decided to stay through the afternoon and take a taxi back to our hotel.  So I begin my walk behind our lovely tour guide as he tells our group about one of the garden’s signature plants: the golden-yellow bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae) developed here at Kirstenbosch over 20 years of selection and cross-pollination, and named ‘Mandela’s Gold’ for South Africa’s revered hero.

03-Strelitzia reginae 'Mandela's Gold'

Founded in 1913, Kirstenbosch is rightly considered one of the top botanical gardens in the world, and their mission has been to celebrate and conserve South African native plants. We walk through garden areas devoted to plants grown for traditional use (edible or medicinal) including the brilliant star flower (Hypoxis hemerocallidea), described thus: “An ancient Basuto headache remedy: Place a few drops of blood from your head in a star flower corm and bury it.”

04-Hypoxis hemerocallidea-African star grass

Ochna serrulata is also called Mickey Mouse bush, because of the similarity of the fruit to that cartoon character (its flowers are yellow).  Zulu people call it umbomvane, and use a decoction as medicine.

05-Ochna serrulata-Mickey mouse plant

South Africa is home to many pelargonium species, including some that play a role in the breeding history of our own bedding geraniums. Here are 5 Kirstenbosch plants from the Geraniaceae family: 1) Pelargonium tongaense or the Tonga pelargonium prefers shade, growing under trees in the forests of Tongaland in KwaZulu-Natal province.  2) Geranium incanum is called carpet geranium and has been used by African and European people to make a tea, called bergtee in Afrikaans. It is also a great bee plant. 3) Pelargonium betulinum or the birch-leaf pelargonium; 4) Pelargonium salmoneum grows in coastal settings on the Eastern Cape; it is fragrant. 5) Pelargonium ionidiiflorum grows among rocks in the Eastern Cape bushveld.

12-Geraniaceae at Kirstenbosch

We pass by gardens devoted to plants that are endangered in the wild.

06-Endangered plants-Kirstenbosch

Having been to Gordon’s Bay on our way to see the whales at Hermanus, it’s interesting to see the endangered Gordon’s Bay pincushion (Leucospermum bolusii).

07-Leucospsermum bolusii-Gordon's Bay Pincushion

….and get a closeup view of this garden acraea butterfly (Acraea horta) nectaring on it.

08-Acraea horta-Leucospermum bolusii

According to the interpretive sign, the six remaining wild populations of the rush-leaf crane flower (Strelitzia juncea) are at risk from invasive aliens and illegal collecting.

10-Strelitzia juncea

Here’s a recently-discovered member of the Crassulaceae called the cliff cotyledon (C. pendens) which occurs only on the sheer cliff faces of the Mbashe River.

11-Cotyledon pendens-Cliff cotyledon

Here are the unusual flower spikes of lobster flower (Plectranthus neochilus ‘Peppermint Cream’).

13-Plectranthus neochilus 'Peppermint Cream'

Kirstenbosch has an impressive Cycad collection. Alas, it’s a very sunny day – as a photographer, I would love to be able to stay a week or so just to come back and photograph this gorgeous place in better light!

14-Cycads at Kirstenbosch

As we walk up through the gardens (you’re always climbing the slope at Kirstenbosch), a spotted eagle owl (Bubo africanus) dozes on a branch above us.

15-Spotted Eagle Owl-Bubo africanus

Naturally, there are many agapanthus species, all of which are native to S. Africa. This one is A. caulescens ssp. angustifolius.

16-Agapanthus caulescens ssp angustifolius

I love the unusual inflorescences of common pagoda (Mimetes cucculatus), which is called “rooisstompie” in Afrikaans. Like many plants that grow in the fynbos, common pagoda is adapted to wildfire and will reprout from the ashes.

17-Mimetes cucullatus

Grassy members of the Restionaceae family have become very popular in the parts of North America where they’re hardy.  In South Africa, they’ve long been used as roof thatching.  This one is called Albertinia thatching reed (Thamnocortus insignis).

18-Thamnocortus insignis

Restio multiflorus is not used for thatching, but some restio species have been used to make brooms. This species is popular in landscaping.

19-Restio multiflorus

The bamboo-like culms (stems) of horsetail restio (Elegia capensis) are distinctive for the tufts of wiry branches that form along with papery, brown sheaths at the segments of the internodes.  Flower spikelets form on top of the plants, with male and female flowers on separate plants, which are wind-pollinated.

20-Elegia capensis

When I reach the sign below at the top of the “gardened” slope at Kirstenbosch, I am ready to circle back down into some of the collections of Proteaceae. I would dearly love to keep climbing into the fynbos, but I must head down to meet the others in our group at the garden’s Silvertree Restaurant for lunch. (However, unlike them, I plan to stay in the garden all afternoon to make sure I don’t miss anything).

21-Garden Sign-Kirstenbosch

Speaking of the restaurant, one of the direction routes on the sign above is the Silvertree Trail, and it is a thrill to see all sizes of silvertrees (Leucadendron argenteum) – a plant some people consider to be the most beautiful tree of all. Leucadendron comes from the Greek word for “white”, leuka, and the word for “tree”, dendron. Thus, the silvertree’s iconic colour and name (witteboom in Afrikaans) is what gave the genus its Latin name in the 1690s.  In the late 1970s there were 6,850 silvertrees counted in Kirstenbosch’s expanses, but 25 years later only 1,000 were found, leading conservationists to speculate that habitat loss through gum tree forestation and urban sprawl could result in their being endangered in the wild by 2025. Fortunately, much of the silvertree population is in protected areas here, which will help save it.

22-Leucadendron argenteum-Silvertree

Here are two more Kirstenbosch leucadendrons:  lineleaf conebush, L. linifolium, at left and thymeleaf protea, L. thymifolium, right. According to Plantzafrica, the thymeleaf protea is critically endangered and could be extinct by 2025.

23-Leucadendron linifolium & Leucadendron thymifolium

Perhaps the most iconic of all the Proteaceae family is the magnificent king protea, Protea cynaroides, which is the national flower of South Africa. Look at this spectacular, complex flower (there are 81 garden varieties of king protea), understandably popular in the flower market of Cape Town and with floral designers throughout the world.

24-Protea cynaroaides

Much rarer is the red Transvaal Mountain protea, aka Transvaal sugarbush, (P. rubropilosa) which hails from Mpumalanga province, specifically the Blyde Canyon area which we visited a week earlier. Its name comes from the red hairs on the underside of the floral bracts….

It usually takes 30 minutes to deliver a http://downtownsault.org/twilight-walking-tours-2/ generic levitra canada hard-on. They rejuvenate the organs in an organic, timely manner. viagra sales france As a result, men found with MS often experience sexual problems but such problems are common and generally discussed and treated but due to public cialis from india online shame and their own failure to satisfy a sexual activity. cialis pill from india Various reasons can cause ED in young men. 25-Protea rubropilosa

which are much clearer in my next photo, which also shows the protea beetle (Trichostetha fascicularis). Though fynbos proteas are pollinated by Cape sunbirds and sugarbirds and have no scent, this  non-fynbos protea has evolved a perfume to attract the protea beetle for pollination.

26-Protea beetle-Trichostetha fascicularis

The high reaches at Kirstenbosch are spangled with brilliant pincushions (Leucospermum sp.) in all colours.  This is ribbon pincushion (Leucospermum tottum) with Cape snow (Syncarpha vestita).

27-Leucospermum tottum and Syncarpha vestita

How thrilling to stand up here amidst this wonderful native flora, with Cape Town stretched out in the distance below.

28-Leucospermum reflexum-Kirstenbosch

I feel fortunate to be visiting South Africa when so many pincushions are in bloom. Here are a dozen I found at Kirstenbosch; their names are listed below the photo.

29-Leucospermum array-Kirstenbosch

1. Leucospermum cuneiforme – Wart-stemmed or Wedge pincushion

2. L. tottum – Ribbon pincushion

3. L. muirii – Albertinia pincushion

4. L. formosum – Silver-leaf wheel pincushion

5. L. bolusii – Gordon’s Bay pincushion

6. L. cordifolium – Red pincushion protea

7. L. reflexum var. luteum – Yellow rocket pincushion

8. L. erubescens – Orange flame pincushion

9. L. reflexum – Rocket pincushion

10. L. vestitum – Silky-haired pincushion

11. L. oleifolium – Tufted pincushion

12. L. conocarpodendron – Green tree pincushion

Pink Watsonia borbonica is stunningly arrayed on the hillside.

30-Watsonia borbonica-Kirstenbosch

As is Melianthus major, or honeybush, which has become a popular garden plant in California and the Pacific Northwest.

31-Melianthus major-Kirstenbosch

I arrive at the Silvertree Restaurant to find a little birthday party being held for one of our tour members. What fun: face paint and traditional music and drums – with delicious cupcakes!

32-Birthday celebration-Kirstenbosch

After my fellow tour members leave, I head out again into an increasingly hot afternoon.  The broad-leaved coral tree (Erythrina latissima) looks fresh as morning….

33-Erythrina latissima-broad-leaved coral tree

And the birds are drinking warm nectar from the Cape fuchsia (Phygelius capensis), left, and honeybush, right.

34-Birds nectaring-Kirstenbosch

The red root (Wachendorfia thyrsiflora) I saw first in the wetland at Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens a few days ago is attracting its share of pollinators as well.

35-Wachendorfia thyrsiflora-bird & bee nectaring

As a bee photographer, I’m very excited to find a plump Cape carpenter bee (Xylocopa caffra) nectaring on Leucospermum oleifolium.

36-Xylocopa caffra on Leucospermum-oleifoliumI wander the grounds for a few hours, then make my way through the flowery borders where typical Cape flora is informally arrayed, like this pretty combination of purple Felicia amelloides and yellow Cineraria saxifraga.

37-Felicia amelloides & Cineraria saxifraga

There’s just enough time before I have to depart to visit Kirstenbosch’s wonderful little Conservatory.

38-Kirstenbosch Conservatory

Inside are rare plants like this Hoodia parviflora, now used as a (scientifically-proven!) diet supplement.

39-Hoodia parviflora

And this lovely Petalidium coccineum.

40-Petalidium coccineum

Finally, it’s time to call the taxi and head back to my Cape Town hotel. But I’ll take away beautiful memories (and tons of photos) of this gorgeous garden – moments like this lovely vignette, of the beautiful blue Cape hyacinth (Merwilla plumbea) with ‘Mandela’s Gold’ bird-of-paradise…..

41-Merwilla plumbea & Strelitzia reginae 'Mandela's Gold'

….and the magical sight of the afternoon sun shimmering through the pale bracts of the king protea.

42-Protea cynaroides

Farewell Kirstenbosch. I hope to return one day.

The Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens

Today, the 10th day of our South Africa garden tour, we’re heading out of Cape Town with our ultimate destination the town of Hermanus for whale-watching.  Our route will take us around Table Mountain out of the city, then over the Cape Flats and ultimately, on R44 or Clarence Drive, along the seashore of False Bay (so-called because it tricked a lot of mariners who thought they had already rounded the Cape of Good Hope into Table Bay).  False Bay has some smaller bays, including Gordon’s Bay, which gives its name to a specific, endangered plant, the Gordon’s Bay pincushion (Leucadendron bolusii).   The road will cut across the point under the Kogelberg Nature Reserve and we will stop in Betty’s Bay at the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens (red arrow on the map).

Cape Town to Hermanus

I point my camera through the window of the moving bus to capture some of the magnificent coastal scenery on the way. This is Kogel Bay, approaching the Kogelberg Nature Reserve, where the wind often blows very hard, making it a favourite spot for surfing.  And sadly, though it’s normally considered a low-risk area for sharks, a young body-boarder was killed here by a great white shark in 2012.

Kogel Bay

Down the beach, a tidal pool has been partly enclosed for safe swimming.

Kogel Bay-Tidal Pool

Visitors can camp here and bring food to “braii” (barbecue).

Kogel Bay Braai spot

Though the rocks are a favourite place from which to fish, many anglers have also been swept into the sea near here, and their memorial crosses dot the shore.

Kogel Bay-Fisherman's Memorial

A little more than an hour out of Cape Town, we arrive at the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens. This stop is a late addition to our itinerary and most of us on the tour could not be happier. We’ve seen a lot of beautiful private gardens in our first 9 days, but the botanical enthusiasts are itching to see the unique fynbos flora!  And here (sadly in a bit too much sunshine for a good photo) are some of the plants we’ll see in bloom at Harold Porter, including yellow Leucospermum conocarpodendron, orange Leucospermum cordifolium and pink watsonia.

What's in Bloom- Harold Porter BG

Less than a year before our visit, in November 2013, the garden was inundated with mud and water from heavy rains that caused a landslide from the mountains behind.  Photos appear here behind some of the other plants in bloom.

Flood story-Harold Porter Botanical Garden

There’s a lovely container of indigenous flowers in the garden entrance room.

Fynbos flower bouquet

The garden sits between the sea at Betty’s Bay (that is the gorgeous blue sceptre, Aristea capitata at the right) ….

Harold Porter Botanical Gardens

…..and the Kogelberg Mountain Range, whose slopes are spangled with the unique fynbos species of the Cape Floristic Province.  Here’s a little video on the Kogelberg Nature Reserve.

Conscious of the time, I rush madly from bed to bed, moving from the bottom near the visitor centre up to the bridge that leads to the fynbos trail.

Garden Bed-Harold Porter Botanical Garden

I zero in on a sprawling plant, below, from the bed above. It’s Felicia fruticosa, shrub aster or bush felicia.  It reminds me a little of our autumn-flowering North American asters.

Felicia fruticosa

Here’s the familiar fan aloe, now renamed Kumara plicatilis, with a great backdrop of the mountains.

Fan aloe-Kumara plicatilis

And lots of little flowers I’m not familiar with, like these tiny “wild violets” Monopsis unidentata…..

Monopsis unidentata
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….. and this shrubby groundcover called doll’s rose or hermannia (Hermannia pinnata)….

Hermannia-pinnata-Doll's rose

And the amazing little strawflower-like plant called Cape snow, Syncarpha vestita.

Syncarpha vestita-Cape snow

We’ll see a lot of this little wild scabious (Scabiosa incisa) in the gardens around Cape Town – and also the pretty Acraea species butterfly nectaring on it.

Scabiosa incisa & Acraea butterfly

And here’s sweet little Pelargonium citronellum, which we know in North America for its derivative essential oil citronella, commonly used as a natural mosquito repellant.

Pelargonium citronellum

I love botanical gardens that use their plants and the environment in which they grow to offer educational insights that go beyond simple identification. This little display explains how the tannins in the tough fynbos plants make their way into the groundwater, turning it brown.

Tannins in water-Harold Porter BG

Here is the inflorescence of Brunia albiflora, called knopbossie or “knob-flower” in Afrikaans because of the shape of the flowers.  Like many fynbos species it is nominally serotinous, meaning the seeds are disseminated following a fire (though it can also seed without fire). According to plantzafrica, it is endemic to this part of the Western Cape, from the Hottentots Holland Mountains to Hermanus.

Brunia albiflora

Protea nitida or wagon-tree (waboom in Afrikaans) has distinctive blue-green leaves and fluffy white flowers.  It’s one of the few proteas that can become a small tree, in time reaching 15-30 feet (5-10 metres).

Protea nitida

Here’s the beautiful and complex flower of the tree pincushion (Leucospermum conocarpodendron), the largest of the pincushion proteas.

Leucospermum conocarpodendron

And two of the most commonly-seen, but beautiful, fynbos species, blue sceptre (Aristea capitata) and red pincushion protea (Leucospermum cordifolium). Don’t they look amazing together?

Leucospermum cordifolium & Aristea capitata-Harold Porter BG

A wetland with a little bridge near the top of the garden contains a profusion of striking, yellow-flowered Wachendorfia thyrsiflora. Its common name is bloodwort or bloodroot for its red roots.

Wachendorfia thyrsiflora-Harold Porter BG

I wish we had at least another half-day in this charming garden, then we could cross this bridge and hike up into the fynbos.

Bridge to Fynbos trail-Harold Porter BG

…..where leopards are said to roam from time to time……

Leopard sign-Fynbos-Harold Porter BG

……but where we would be much more likely to run into the wild Leucospermum cordifolium spangling the fynbos than leopards.  Isn’t this fabulous?

Fynbos-Leucospermum cordifolium

However, it’s time to head back to the bus for the short hop down the highway to Hermanus to look for whales. But this little botanical garden has stolen my heart.

Up on Table Mountain

It helps considerably during a tour of any kind when flexibility on the part of the organizers permits last-minute changes to the schedule in order to seize an advantage. That’s what happens on Day 8 of our South African garden tour, when our guide Deon casts a look at the clear blue sky around Table Mountain as we drive out to Stellenberg this morning before enjoying our tour and delicious lunch at Cellars-Hohenort.   Because the mountain is so often cloud-shrouded and so windy the cable cars cannot operate, it’s decided that we should count our weather blessings and visit it this afternoon.   It’s an impressive sight, this jutting tafelberg (its name in Afrikaans) that forms a dramatic backdrop to the city of Cape Town – even seen through the window of our tour bus.  The red arrow shows the terminus station for the Aerial Cableway that we will use to climb to the 3,653-foot (1,086 metre) summit.

Table Mountain-from Cape Town

Having lived in Vancouver for 19 years, I am familiar with the feeling of having mountains as a geographic constant in one’s life. There, the north shore mountains were our directional compass; provided they weren’t clouded in, you always knew which way you were headed because the mountains were north. But the city of Cape Town has developed around Table Mountain like a thick convex crescent with a bulge on the inner edge.  That bulge (you’ll see it in my photos further down) is delineated on the south by the pinnacled Lion’s Head and then the long fold of Signal Hill to form the “Cape Bowl”. So depending on where you are in the city and its suburbs, Table Mountain and its floriferous slopes can be north, east, south or west of where you are. In a few days, we’ll be visiting Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens which is on the lower slope of the east side of Table Mountain.  In this closer view, you can just make out the cables of the Aerial Cableway (red arrow).

Table Mountain

I’ve marked up this NASA satellite image to show some of the landmarks of this part of the Western Cape Province. Though Table Mountain (red arrow) looks small from this vantage point, its flat plateau top is about 2 miles from side to side and, of course, its area at sea level is much bigger.  Together with Devil’s Peak, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill it forms the northernmost part of the sandstone range that is the rocky spine of the Cape Peninsula.   At the southeast tip is Cape Point, which is not the Cape of Good Hope, the latter being the most southwest point of Africa and the Cape Peninsula.  Table Mountain is also the most popular part of Table Mountain National Park, which covers 85 square miles. Because the mountain range is not contiguous and there are cities and towns sprinkled in between, the park is divided into three parts: 1) the Table Mountain Section; 2) the Silvermine-Tokai Section; and 3) the Cape Point Section stretching from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope.  In the next few days, we’ll visit the vineyards of Stellenbosch and we’ll circle False Bay to get to the delightful Harold Porter Botanical Garden in Betty’s Bay on our way to spot the whales frolicking at Hermanus. And Robben Island (lower left), of course, is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he spent in jail before the fall of South Africa’s apartheid governent.

Table Mountain LANDSAT

The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway was built in 1929 and each of its cars can carry 65 passengers.  Prior to being built, visitors to Table Mountain had to climb it on foot.  The cableway prides itself on being accident free for more than 85 years.  I make sure to find a place at the window; since the cars rotate slowly 360 degrees as they climb, it’s a perfect way to see both the view of Cape Town below (that’s Signal Hill on the left and Robben Island in the bay beyond it), and the mountain flora below.

Table Mountain Cableway

With my telephoto lens, I can see Table Bay and downtown Cape Town clearly. The bay was dangerous to navigate before breakwaters were built and ships wrecked in its shallows for hundreds of years.  Today, the port is the second biggest after Durban in South Africa.

Table Bay & Cape Town City Centre

More views of Table Bay and the city as we ascend.

Cape Town & Table Bay

And here are the pinnacled Lion’s Head and the long spine of Signal Hill that help to shape that Cape Bowl. That circular building at the end of Signal Hill is the Cape Town Stadium at Green Point, built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Our hotel is less than a mile from the stadium and close to the Victoria and Albert Shopping centre, too. Later this week, we’ll watch hundreds of fans parade down the street after Cape Town Ajax loses to Johannesburg’s Kaiser Chiefs.

Lion's Head & Signal Hill-Cape Town

Gazing down at the slopes, the vegetation is tantalizing. How wonderful it would be to be hiking up through the fynbos and exploring the unique flora, like this rare and endangered tree pincushion  (Leucospermum conocarpodendron ssp. conocarpodendron), which grows only in the fertile soil on the Precambrian-era Cape Granite at the base of Table Mountain.   Above the granite, there’s a narrow layer of reddish Malmesbury shale.

Leucospermum conocarpodendron-Table Mountain

As we approach the top, the geology of the uppermost layers changes from granite topped with shale to the characteristic steep grey crags of the very hard, quartzitic, erosion-resistant, Ordivician sandstone known as Peninsula Formation Sandstone (or Table Mountain Sandstone)

Table Mountain sandstone

Below is Devil’s Peak, adjacent to Table Mountain, so named because when the inevitable clouds swirl around its peak it is said to resemble the devil smoking a pipe.  In a day or so, we’ll visit the Rhodes Memorial on its lower flank.  And the name? According to Wikipedia: “The English term Devil’s Peak is a 19th-century translation from the Dutch Duiwels Kop, and supposedly comes from the folk-tale about a Dutch man called Jan van Hunks, a prodigious pipe smoker who lived at the foot of the mountain circa 1700. He was forced by his wife to leave the house whenever he smoked his pipe. One day, while smoking on the slopes of the peak, he met a mysterious stranger who also smoked. They each bragged of how much they smoked and so they fell into a pipe-smoking contest. The stranger turned out to be the Devil and Van Hunks eventually won the contest, but not before the smoke that they had made had covered the mountain, forming the table cloth cloud.”

Devil's Peak from Table Mountain

We are now so high that I can see behind Lion’s Head and Signal Hill to the affluent suburb of Camps Bay, with its rocky shoals and white sand beaches.

Camp's Bay-Beach

And here we look south down the green spine of the mountains of the Cape Peninsula.

View of Cape Peninsula from Table Mountain

Some people prefer to hike up the mountain, like this enterprising trio.  But I suspect as scary as this looks from my angle in the cablecar, the upper portion is likely more of a sandstone stairmaster from hell!
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Hikers on Table Mountain

Finally, we approach the upper terminus and exit the cablecar.

Cableway Terminus Station

We’re free to wander about the plateau on our own for an hour or so.  Look at all those native restios that have been such a big part of ornamental gardens in milder parts of North America.  Lots of tourists are up here enjoying the easy stroll over the “tabletop”, which owes its flatness……

Table Mountain-Summit

….. to the fact that it was once the bottom of a valley.  (Photo from Wikipedia and used under Creative Commons Licence.)

Erosion

I rush about snapping photos of plants that catch my eye, but the sunshine is brilliant and the shadows are deep, poor conditions for photography.  I try to concentrate on the fact that many tourists miss the chance to be right where I am now.  Table Mountain is renowned for its biodiversity and its unique “Cape Fynbos” vegetation.  Fynbos is defined as a sclerophyllous (having hard leaves) shrubland occurring on acid sands or nutrient poor soils derived from Table Mountain Sandstones.  It includes many members of the Protea family (Proteaceae), the Heath family (Ericaceae) and the Reed family of restios (Restionaceae).  The mountain’s vegetation types form part of the Cape Floral Region protected areas. These protected areas are a World Heritage Site, and an estimated 2,200 species of plants are confined to Table Mountain – more than exist in the whole of the United Kingdom.Though it is the smallest of the six recognized floristic regions on the planet, it is the most diverse, with more than 9,000 vascular plant species.

I see the tree aloe (Aloe arborescens), now past its winter flowering.

Aloe ferox-Table Mountain

Here are the distinctive leaves of the red heath (Erica abietina ssp. abietina) – a photo I was going to toss out, but I do like the feathery leaves.

Erica abietina ssp. abietina

This is thatching reed (Thamnochortus insignis), one of the restios used for thatched roofs.

Thamnochortus insignis-Table Mountain

And the Peninsula conebush (Leucadendron strobilinum), so called because its flowers look like pine cones.

Leucadendron strobalinum-Table Mountain

Golden coulter bush (Hymenolepis parviflora) is growing everywhere.

Golden Coulter Bush- Hymenolepis parviflora

And of course there is lots of the strawflower-like white everlasting (Edmondia sesamensis) seen throughout the Western Cape.

Edmondia sesamoides-Table Mountain

Perhaps the best way to see the myriad and marvelous flora of Table Mountain is to find someone who knows it well, loves plants and writes beautifully about them. That description would fit writer/photographer/forager Marie Viljoen, former Capetonian (ex-Brooklynite and now Harlem, New York resident) who goes “home” frequently and hikes the mountain with camera in hand.  For those who want to see a little more of the Cape Fynbos flora, this is what you might find on a winter hike, i.e. June in North America.  Treasures abound in the January summertime, too.   And this remarkable flowering of fire liies from the ashes is what happens after wildfires like those of winter 2015.  (And if you want a lovely New York photography-cookbook, consider buying Marie’s wonderful book 66 Square Feet: A Delicious Life, One Woman, One Terrace, 92 Recipes.)

Our time on the mountain is drawing to an end but as I walk back to the cableway station I spot a rock hyrax (“dassie” in Afrikaans) lying, appropriately enough, on a rock.  Though you might be tempted to think this animal is related to the groundhog or guinea pig or some other furry creature, DNA testing has revealed the startling fact that his closest relative is the elephant.  This dassie is a sentry for his nearby den and will spend long periods of time lying on this rock watching for predators (eagles are common), but also basking in the sun in order to manage thermoregulation, which is known to be poor in this species. By the evidence it would appear he’s been hanging out here for quite some time but, in fact, dassies create latrines in hollowed-out rocks or crevices and use those places faithfully.  However, it’s not until I return home and start researching that I am filled with delight at having captured not just the animal, but his excrement. For the dassie’s accumulated, dried deposits (combinations of feces and urine) are called hyraceum, an aromatic substance that is the prized ingredient in many perfumes.

Rock hyrax-Procavia capensis

And on that fragrant note, I bid you adieu until the next time (which will be a city tour of Cape Town.)