Plants of the Week

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E.g., 13/12/2024
E.g., 13/12/2024

Thesium viridifolium

Thesium viridifolium
Common names: green root-thug
Family: Santalaceae

A much-branched, densely leafy shrub bearing attractive, small, white flowers that are crowded in dense rounded heads at the tips of the branches....

25 / 11 / 2019 | Naomi Mdayi | Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
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Melasphaerula graminea

Melasphaerula graminea
Common names: fairy bells (Eng.); baardmannetjie, bokbaardjie, feeklokkie (Afr.)
Family: Iridaceae

This attractive, winter-growing, bulbous plant, with its lax sprays of half-nodding, long lasting, grass-like flowers, is ideal for hanging baskets....

25 / 11 / 2019 | Shireen Harris | Karoo Desert NBG
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Kalanchoe thyrsiflora

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
Common names: white lady, bird’s brandy (Eng.); geelplakkie, meelplakkie, plakkie, voëlbrandewyn (Afr.); serilile (Southern Sotho); utshwala benyoni (Zulu); utyw
Family: Crassulaceae

A striking addition to a succulent rockery or grassland garden, this plant stands tall with its striking white leaves and yellow flowers, at a time of...

18 / 11 / 2019 | Andrew Hankey | Walter Sisulu NBG
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Olea exasperata

Olea exasperata
Common names: dune olive, coast olive (Eng.); duineolien, glashoutolien, slanghout, vlashoutolien, basterolienhout (Afr.)
Family: Oleaceae

Olea exasperata, one of the wild olive trees of South Africa, is an ornamental shrub or small tree that generally occurs in coastal scrub, on sand dunes...

18 / 11 / 2019 | Sisanda Alakhe Velembo-Mhlauli | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Curio ficoides

Curio ficoides
Common names: blue chalkstick, flat-leaved senecio (Eng.); blouharpuis (Afr.)
Family: Asteraceae

A conspicuous, spreading, succulent shrub, with striking, large, bluish grey-green, elongated, flattish, succulent leaves, with a resinous smell when damaged....

11 / 11 / 2019 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Aloe kniphofioides

Aloe kniphofioides
Common names: grass aloe, red poker grass aloe (Eng.); grasaalwyn (Afr.)
Family: Asphodelaceae

Aloe kniphofioides is an attractive, stemless, grass-like aloe, with short serrated leaves and an ovoid, bulb-like swelling below ground. The lax inflorescence...

11 / 11 / 2019 | Mpho Mathalauga | KwaZulu-Natal NBG
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Gladiolus angustus

Gladiolus angustus
Common names: long-tubed painted lady, marsh painted lady (Eng); katjietee (Afr.)
Family: Iridaceae

...

11 / 11 / 2019 | Ofentse Naanyane | Pretoria NBG
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Senecio maritimus

Senecio maritimus
Common names: beach senecio, beach groundsel (Eng.); strandhongerblom (Afr.)
Family: Asteraceae

A somewhat succulent annual, ideally suited to coastal gardens and common along the Western Cape coast, where its bright yellow flowers light up large...

04 / 11 / 2019 | Roger Oliver | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Apodolirion macowanii

Apodolirion macowanii
Common names: spiralled leaf ground lily, MacOwan’s ground lily
Family: Amaryllidaceae

The beautiful spiralled leaf Apodolirion macowanii has delicate, white flowers that open for just two days and have a strong sweet-scent, which might uplift...

04 / 11 / 2019 | Pamela Nondumiso Sgatya | CREW
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Callilepis leptophylla

Callilepis leptophylla
Common names: wild daisy (Eng.); bergbitterbossie (Afr.); imphila (siSwati)
Family: Asteraceae

An aromatic perennial herb with needle-like leaves and large flowers early in the season, and it mixes well with grasses. ...

28 / 10 / 2019 | T.T. Masupa | National Herbarium Pretoria
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Dierama tysonii

Dierama tysonii
Common names: Tyson’s hairbells (Eng.); grasklokkies (Afr.)
Family: Iridaceae

The graceful hairbells are one of our most loved native plants; these perennial herbs have evergreen grass-like foliage, with slender, wiry stems from...

28 / 10 / 2019 | Bathabile Ndlovu | KwaZulu-Natal NBG
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Lasiosiphon deserticola

Lasiosiphon deserticola 
Common names: saffron curryflower (Eng.); saffraan, saffraanbos, verfbossie, hotnotsverfbossie (Afr.)
Family: Thymelaeaceae

 An evergreen shrub with bright, ochre-yellow, night-scented flowers, which can be used to make a yellow dye....

21 / 10 / 2019 | Odwa Obose | Compton Herbarium
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Obetia tenax

Obetia tenax
Common names: mountain nettle, rock tree-nettle, tree nettle, giant nettle, stinging nettle tree (Eng.); bergbrandnetel, rotsbrandnetel (Afr.); lebati (Northern Sot
Family: Urticaceae

An awesome small tree with the most striking flowers and leaves with stinging hairs, that can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable....

14 / 10 / 2019 | Sephatle Evans Molekoa | Lowveld NBG
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Aloe pretoriensis

Aloe pretoriensis
Common names: Pretoria aloe (Eng.); Pretoria aalwyn (Afr.)
Family: Asphodelaceae

A widespread aloe that occurs from Pretoria in Gauteng, to Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, with a neat, compact rosette of thin leaves and...

07 / 10 / 2019 | Ntuthuko Mabuya | Pretoria NBG
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Pteronia aspera

Pteronia aspera
Common names: sand gumbush (Eng.); sandgombos (Afr.)
Family: Asteraceae

A floriferous, medicinally important shrub, with huge cultural value and commercial potential....

07 / 10 / 2019 | Roger Oliver | Kirstenbosch NBG
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Delosperma saxicola

Delosperma saxicola
Common names: Tsitsikamma cliff vygie, Tsitsikamma cliff mesemb (Eng.); Tsitsikamma vygie (Afr.)
Family: Aizoaceae

A rare endemic of the coastal cliffs of the Tsitsikamma National Park. Its mat-forming habit makes it a great ground cover, especially for seafront, water-wise,...

30 / 09 / 2019 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG
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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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