Plants of the Week

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E.g., 14/12/2024
E.g., 14/12/2024

Pseudarthria hookeri

Pseudarthria hookeri
Common names: velvet bean, bug-catcher (Eng.); fluweelboontjie (Afr.); uphandosi, uqhonqo, uqwashu (isiZulu)
Family: Fabaceae

This large shrub has vibrant, eye catching flowers in late summer. It earned the common name ‘bug-catcher’ because it is reputed to catch bedbugs...

21 / 06 / 2021 | Sibahle Gumede | Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
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Penaea mucronata

Penaea mucronata
Common names: noughts-and-crosses (Eng.)
Family: Penaeaceae

A resprouting shrub, with branches coppicing from a woody base, triangular leaves and yellow to red flowers in spring and summer; found in fynbos, and...

28 / 06 / 2021 | Kamogelo Solomon Modimola | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Paranomus dregei

Paranomus dregei
Common names: scented sceptre (Eng.); parfuumsepter (Afr.)
Family: Proteaceae

A splendid shrub, with scented flowers that attract many insects, and very much catches the eye with its reddish involucral bracts, creamy flowers and...

28 / 06 / 2021 | Mashudu Nndanduleni | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Pavonia columella

Pavonia columella
Common names: pink pavonia (Eng.); indole ebomvu (isiZulu).
Family: Malvaceae

Pavonia columella, a hardy and aromatic subshrub, shows off its delicate, white to pink flowers all year round....

05 / 07 / 2021 | Ashton Welcome | National Herbarium Pretoria
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Philenoptera sutherlandii

Philenoptera sutherlandii
Common names: forest apple-leaf, giant umzimbeet, bastard umzimbeet (Eng.); bosappelblaar, reuseomsambeet, basteromsambeet (Afr.); umsimbishana, umsimbithana (isiZu
Family: Fabaceae

A large and handsome evergreen tree, with showy pink or purple flowers in midsummer, that grows mainly in forest habitat....

19 / 07 / 2021 | Sisanda Alakhe Velembo-Mhlauli | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Pteronia incana

Pteronia incana
Common names: ash bush, blue bush, wild lavender bush (Eng.), asbos, asbossie, bloubos, laventelbossie, kraakbos (Afr.).
Family: Asteraceae

This unpalatable, aromatic, dwarf shrub with beautiful, dusty grey foliage and bright yellow flowers in spring and early summer, is one of the most widely...

16 / 08 / 2021 | Thabang Makola | Karoo Desert NBG
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Pelargonium caledonicum

Pelargonium caledonicum
Common names: Caledon storksbill
Family: Geraniaceae

The conspicuous and unique Caledon Storksbill is one of South Africa’s most rare pelargoniums, only known to occur in the Caledon region of the Western...

11 / 10 / 2021 | Sithandokuhle Wendy Ngcongo | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Pachycarpus acidostelma

Pachycarpus acidostelma
Common names: Highflats pachycarpus
Family: Apocynaceae

Recognized by its creamy to pale yellow, saucer-shaped flowers, the elusive Pachycarpus acidostelma remains one of South Africa’s hidden gems.Fig....

27 / 12 / 2021 | Kaveesha Naicker | CREW
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Penaea cneorum

Penaea cneorum
Common names: common brickleaf, common noughts-and-crosses, naughty crosses (Eng.)
Family: Penaeaceae

Penaea cneorum is a lanky shrub with leathery foliage and compact spikes of small yellow flowers that rest upon distinctive greenish-yellow bracts and...

11 / 07 / 2022 | Sisanda Alakhe Velembo-Mhlauli | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Plectranthus grallatus

Plectranthus grallatus, Hogsback. Photo Nicola van Berkel
Common names: Drakensberg spurflower, tuberous spurflower (Eng.); Drakensberg spoorsalie, knolspoorsalie (Afr.); umnyamawempunzi (isiZulu)
Family: Lamiaceae

An herbaceous shrub, that resprouts annually from underground tuberous stems, with large, decorative, soft leaves and white flowers in late summer; easy...

26 / 09 / 2022 | Stemmer Ngalo | Free State NBG
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Pelargonium cucullatum x betulinum 'Kommetjie'

Pelargonium ‘Kommetjie’
Common names: Kommetjie hybrid pelargonium
Family: Geraniaceae

Bright, floriferous and hardy, this is a natural hybrid between two of the Cape’s finest pelargoniums, Pelargonium cucullatum and P. betulinum, that...

17 / 10 / 2022 | Roger Oliver | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Psychotria suber

Psychotria suber in its natural habitat, Three Sisters, Mpumalanga
Common names: corkbark bird-berry (Eng.); kurkbas-voelbessie (Afr.)
Family: Rubiaceae

The corkbark bird-berry is a recently described small tree that grows wild on rocky mountain peaks in Barberton, Mbombela, Swaziland and adjacent KwaZulu-Natal...

21 / 11 / 2022 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Pachypodium bispinosum

Pachypodium bispinosum flowers. Photo Jenny Potgieter
Common names: bell-flower thick-foot (English), bobbejaankos, kafferkambroo, kragman, sterkman, dikvoet (Afrikaans)
Family: Apocynaceae

A spiny succulent plant that shows off with bell-shaped, purple to pink, sometimes white flowers in spring and early summer....

20 / 02 / 2023 | Sisipho Mqungguthu | Karoo Desert NBG
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Pentzia incana

Pentzia incana
Common names: anchor karoo bush, common karoo bush, good karoo, sheep karoo, sheep bush, sweet karoo (Eng.); alsbossie, alsbos, ankerkaroo, bewerasie, gansie, ganso
Family: Asteraceae

An aromatic and easy-growing perennial suited for the water-wise garden. This grey leaved species is covered in small yellow flowers for about six months...

08 / 05 / 2023 | Roger Oliver | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Protea comptonii

Protea comptonii
Common names: Barberton mountain sugarbush, Barberton sugarbush, Saddleback sugarbush, Compton’s protea (Eng.); barbertonse bergsuikerbos, barberton-suikerbos, co
Family: Proteaceae

A very impressive standing tree with a rounded, open crown, rich green leaves, and a water-lily-like inflorescence when fully in bloom, made up of white...

26 / 06 / 2023 | Mashudu Nndanduleni | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Peperomia tetraphylla

Peperomia tetraphylla
Common names: four-leaved peperomia, acorn peperomia (Eng.)
Family: Piperaceae

A low-growing herb with creeping stems forming mats, with small, thick, rounded leaves, typically dark green with lighter stripes, and are excellent at...

31 / 07 / 2023 | Luckyboy Nduli | KwaZulu-Natal NBG
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Portulacaria pygmaea

Portulacaria pygmaea
Common names: pygmy porkbush, dwarf porkbush (Eng.); dwergspekboom (Afr.)
Family: Didiereaceae

The pygmy porkbush is a shrublet with a tuberous, succulent base (caudex), small, grey-green, succulent leaves and small, light purplish, inconspicuous...

14 / 08 / 2023 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Pterocelastrus rostratus

Pterocelastrus rostratus
Common names: red cherrywood, beaked pterocelastrus, red candlewood (Eng.); rooikershout, kersiehout (Afr.); ugobandlovu, usahlulamanye (Zulu); itywina (Xhosa)
Family: Celastraceae

A graceful evergreen tree, or shrub, with a slender stem, a bushy crown and sweet-scented flowers in summer followed by distinctive spiky, orange to reddish-brown...

11 / 09 / 2023 | Loretta Floors | Harold Porter NBG
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Phaulopsis imbricata

Phaulopsis imbricata
Common names: sticky acanth (Eng.); umhlonyane (isiZulu); papleaf (The Gambia), salt of the cow (Senegal)
Family: Acanthaceae

Phaulopsis imbricata is a bushy, perennial herbaceous plant, with small white flowers in short spikes that are sticky to the touch. Easy to grow, it is...

09 / 10 / 2023 | Bongekile Ndlovu | Pretoria NBG
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Portulacaria namaquensis

Illustration by Marieta Visagie
Common names: Namaqua porkbush (Eng.), wolftoon, Namakwariem, Namakwaspekboom (Afr.)
Family: Didiereaceae

Portulacaria namaquensis is an ascending, slow-growing shrub with pale creamy to yellowish or greyish, pencil-thin stems bearing many very short spur-branches...

23 / 10 / 2023 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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