Plants of the Week

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E.g., 30/12/2024
E.g., 30/12/2024

Tulista

Tulista pumila
Common names: miniature aloe, pearl plant (Eng.); vratjiesaalwyn, kleinaalwyn, seepaalwyn (Afr.)
Family: Asphodelaceae

These attractive, dwarf, leaf succulents, with their often white-tuberculed leaves in compact rosettes, are very popular among succulent plant collectors....

30 / 09 / 2019 | Ronell R. Klopper | National Herbarium Pretoria
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Rhynchosia sublobata

Rhynchosia sublobata
Common names: none
Family: Fabaceae

A yellow-flowered, indigenous African herb, with twining stems and velvety with silvery grey hairs. Its roots and leaves are used in traditional medicine...

23 / 09 / 2019 | M.S. Mothogoane | National Herbarium Pretoria
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Streptocarpus floribundus

Streptocarpus floribundus
Common names: Kranskop streptocarpus, Kranskop Cape primrose
Family: Gesneriaceae

Streptocarpus floribundus is a rare and threatened, vibrant gem, thriving in dense clusters among the doleritic outcrops of Kranskop, in KwaZulu-Natal....

23 / 09 / 2019 | Kaveesha Naicker | CREW
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Encephalartos aemulans

Encephalartos aemulans
Common names: Ngotshe cycad (Eng.); ngotshe-broodboom (Afr.)
Family: Zamiaceae

An extremely rare cycad, which is endemic to South Africa, and known from a single mountain in the Vryheid District, in KwaZulu-Natal. Female and male...

16 / 09 / 2019 | Lungisani Zondi | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Solanum africanum

Solanum africanum
Common names: dune nightshade, drunken berry, drunken rope (Eng.); dronkbessie, dronktou (Afr.)
Family: Solanaceae

A hardy creeper or shrub, with yellow-centered, purple, mauve or white flowers in midsummer to spring. It can be successfully utilized to cover a trellis...

16 / 09 / 2019 | Benjamin Festus | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Chlorophytum bowkeri

Chlorophytum bowkeri (Mary Sue Ittner)
Common names: giant chlorophytum, Bowker's chlorophytum (Eng.); groot boskuikens (Afr.)
Family: Agavaceae

A robust perennial herb that makes an impeccable landscape plant, when planted in a mass as a ground cover....

09 / 09 / 2019 | Refilwe Maria Malatji | Pretoria NBG
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Hylodesmum repandum

Hylodesmum repandum
Common names: orange tick-trefoil, orange tick-clover, hitchhikers, beggar lice (Eng.)
Family: Fabaceae

An attractive, shrubby, scrambling, perennial leguminous plant, with small, yet charming orange-red flowers in summer....

09 / 09 / 2019 | Kamogelo Solomon Modimola | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Crassula ericoides subsp. ericoides

Crassula ericoides
Common names: heath crassula, large whipcord (Eng.); malmeidbossie, skilpadbossie (Afr.)
Family: Crassulaceae

A beautiful stand-alone plant that is easy to propagate and works well in pot arrangements and in succulent gardens. This succulent plant is more of a...

02 / 09 / 2019 | Sboniso Zwane | KwaZulu-Natal NBG
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Conicosia pugioniformis subsp. pugioniformis

Conicosia pugioniformis subsp. pugioniformis
Common names: giant clockplant, pigroot, pig salad, narrow-leaved ice plant (Eng.); groot vetkousie, varkslaai, gansies, varkwortel, snotwortel (Afr.)
Family: Aizoaceae

A striking, yellow flowering, die-hard, succulent groundcover, suited to sandy and coastal gardens, rockeries or pots....

02 / 09 / 2019 | Roger Oliver | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Eucomis regia

Eucomis regia
Common names: western dwarf pineapple flower
Family: Hyacinthaceae

This is the only winter rainfall Eucomis and its flowering pattern is precisely opposite to all the other pineapple lilies. It is also one of the few species...

26 / 08 / 2019 | Dineo Dibakwane | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Acmadenia kiwanensis

Acmadenia kiwanensis
Common names: Kiwane porcelain flower
Family: Rutaceae

...

26 / 08 / 2019 | Sibahle Gumede | Kwelera NBG
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Astroloba rubriflora

Astroloba rubriflora
Common names: red-flowered astroloba
Family: Asphodelaceae

Astroloba rubriflora is the only plant in its genus that has red flowers. The tubular flowers face upwards, and are adapted to attract sunbirds for pollination,...

19 / 08 / 2019 | Ricardo Riddles | Karoo Desert NBG
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Ledebouria floribunda

Ledebouria floribunda
Common names: spotted African hyacinth (Eng.); isikholokotho (Zul.)
Family: Hyacinthaceae

A large and usually attractively spotted Ledebouria species; this species is one of the largest species in the entire genus....

19 / 08 / 2019 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Barleria macrostegia

Barleria macrostegia
Common names: tongklapper (Afr.)
Family: Acanthaceae

A groundcover with a strange flower cluster....

12 / 08 / 2019 | Willem Froneman | Lowveld NBG
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Kleinia longiflora

Kleinia longiflora (Tony Rebelo)
Common names: paintbrush flower (Eng.); sjambokbos (Afr.)
Family: Asteraceae

Kleinia longiflora is an unusual, succulent shrub, with striking, thin, pencil-shaped, segmented, upright or sprawling stems, that is drought resistant...

12 / 08 / 2019 | Shireen Harris | Karoo Desert NBG
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Lantana rugosa

Lantana rugosa
Common names: bird’s beer, bird’s brandy (Eng.); voëlbrandewyn, wildesalie (Afr.); sekwebetane (isiNdebele); utyani-bentaka, utywala bentaka (isiXhosa); impema
Family: Verbenaceae

From a distance, if it looks like the famous fever-tea or lemon bush plant (Lippia javanica), it is most likely Lantana rugosa. Sadly, sharing the common...

05 / 08 / 2019 | Lesiba Papo | National Herbarium Pretoria
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Marasmodes trifida

Marasmodes trifida
Common names: trifid autumn-aster
Family: Asteraceae

This little known and not so beautiful plant is highly threatened; it is easily identifiable from other members of the genus by its leaves that split into...

05 / 08 / 2019 | Naomi Mdayi | Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
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Schizaea pectinata

Schizaea pectinata
Common names: curly grass-fern; cockscomb fern, toothbrush fern (Eng.); grasvaring (Afr.)
Family: Schizaeaceae

Is it a restio? Is it a sedge? No! It is Schizaea pectinata. When walking in the fynbos of the Western Cape of South Africa, one is likely to come across...

29 / 07 / 2019 | Karen Wall | Harold Porter NBG
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Prenia vanrensburgii

Prenia vanrensburgii
Common names: Cape spinach, sea pumpkin (Eng.); seepampoen, strandspinasie (Afr.)
Family: Aizoaceae

A fast-growing, short-lived perennial succulent, endemic to the sunny, windy, littoral seafront or shoreline zone in the coastal parts of the eastern part...

29 / 07 / 2019 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Papaver aculeatum

Papaver aculeatum flower. Photo SAplants
Common names: bristle poppy, orange poppy (Eng.); doringpapawer, koringpapawer, wildepapawer (Afr.); sehlohlo (South Sotho)
Family: Papaveraceae

Papaver aculeatum is an attractive, orange- or pinkish-orange-flowered annual, and the only poppy endemic to the southern hemisphere. It makes an attractive...

22 / 07 / 2019 | Graham Duncan | Kirstenbosch NBG
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