Plants of the Week

Encephalartos paucidentatus

Common names: Barberton cycad

Family: Zamiaceae

The graceful crown of dark green glossy leaves, vigorous growth and strong stem of Encephalartos paucidentatus makes this one of the most striking of...

03 / 07 / 2006 | John Winter | Kirstenbosch NBG

Aloe comosa

Common names: Clanwilliam aloe

Family: Asphodelaceae

Aloe comosa is a striking, single-stemmed, summer-flowering aloe that is hardly known in cultivation....

03 / 07 / 2006 | Ian Oliver | Karoo Desert NBG

Sideroxylon inerme

Common names: white milkwood ( Eng. ); witmelkhout, melkhoutboom, melkbessie (Afr.); aMasethole, umQwashu (Xhosa); aMasethole-amhlope, uMakhwela-fingqane (Zulu)

Family: Sapotaceae

...

26 / 06 / 2006 | Freddie Bosman | Kirstenbosch NBG

Cordyla africana

Common names: sunbird tree (Eng.); wildemango (Afr.); iGowane-elikhulu, umbhone (Zulu)

Family: Fabaceae

Did you know that Africa has its own mango? Although the fruit is not as big and tasty as the exotic one and it belongs to a different family, it is extremely...

26 / 06 / 2006 | Jean Meyer | National Herbarium Pretoria

Encephalartos longifolius

Common names: Thunberg's cycad, Suurberg cycad (Eng.); Suurbergbroodboom (Afr.)

Family: Zamiaceae

Encephalartos longifolius and E. caffer were the first cycads to be scientifically recorded in South Africa as long ago as 1772. During...

19 / 06 / 2006 | D Bosenberg | Kirstenbosch NBG

Empleurum unicapsulare

Common names: false buchu, river buchu (Eng.); bergboegoe, wildeboegoe (Afr.)

Family: Rutaceae

Empleurum unicapsulare is a single-stemmed, evergreen shrub, which has a similar growth habit to a willow tree. It slender and upright growth form with...

19 / 06 / 2006 | Norma Jodamus | Kirstenbosch NBG

Moraea polystachya

Common names: bloutulp, kraai-uintjie (Afr.)

Family: Iridaceae

Pretty but dangerous (to live-stock, that is)! In a good year, usually in autumn, the large, deep blue to violet or occasionally white, iris-like flowers...

12 / 06 / 2006 | Clare Archer | National Herbarium Pretoria

Plumbago wissii

Common names: Brandberg plumbago

Family: Plumbaginaceae

Plumbago wissii is a rare endemic of the Brandberg in northern Namibia. It is an attractive shrub growing to about 1.5 m in diameter and to about...

12 / 06 / 2006 | Ernst van Jaarsveld | Kirstenbosch NBG

Moraea polystachya

Common names: blue moraea, blue tulp, poison moraea (Eng.); bloutulp, kraai-uintjie (Afr.)

Family: Iridaceae

Pretty but dangerous - to live-stock, that is! In a good year, usually in autumn, the large, deep blue to violet or occasionally white, iris-like flowers...

12 / 06 / 2006 | Clare Archer | Pretoria NBG

Leucadendron spissifolium subsp. oribinum

Common names: Oribi spear-leaved conebush ( Eng. ); Oribigeelbos (Afr.)

Family: Proteaceae

This rare Leucadendron (conebush) is found at the Oribi Gorge near Port Shepstone, far from the Western Cape where most Leucadendron species...

05 / 06 / 2006 | Wendy Foden | TSP

Freylinia vlokii

Common names: Rooiberg bell-bush, Karoo bell-bush (Eng.); Karoo klokkiesbos (Afr.)

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Freylinia vlokii is a shrub bearing beautiful tubular mauve flowers and is an ideal plant for dry fynbos gardens....

05 / 06 / 2006 | Freddie Bosman | Kirstenbosch NBG

Colpoon compressum

Common names: Cape sumach, coast tannin bush (Eng.); wildepruim, wurgbessie, basbessie, kuslooibas, namtarri (Afr.); mtekaaza, umbalanythi (Xhosa); umbulanyathi (Zu

Family: Santalaceae

Colpoon compressum, is a very decorative and useful plant in cultivation as well as in its natural habitat. It is a hemi-parasitic plant, in...

29 / 05 / 2006 | Werner Voigt | Kirstenbosch NBG

Osyris compressa

Common names: Cape sumach, coastal tannin bush ( Eng.); wildepruim, wurgbessie, basbessie, kuslooibas (Afr.); mtekaaza, umbalanythi (Xhosa); umbulanyathi (Zulu)

Family: Santalaceae

This plant is now called Colpoon compressum ...

29 / 05 / 2006 | | Kirstenbosch NBG

Gerbera ambigua

Common names: pink and white gerbera (E), botterblom, Griekwateebossie (A), moarubetso (SS), ucabazane (Z).

Family: Asteraceae

...

29 / 05 / 2006 | Isabel Johnson | KwaZulu-Natal NBG

Gerbera viridifolia

Common names: blushing barberton daisy (Eng.); griquateebossie (Afr.); iyeza lamazi (isiXhosa)

Family: Asteraceae

Gerbera viridifolia produces beautiful cream, mauve or purple daisies for most of the year. It is one of the parents of today's popular florist Gerbera...

22 / 05 / 2006 | Isabel Johnson | KwaZulu-Natal NBG

Erepsia lacera

Common names: Paarl roosvygie

Family: Aizoaceae

Erepsia lacera is an erect shrublet with succulent leaves and somewhat rose-like flowers. It belongs to the mesemb family (Mesembryanthemaceae), flowers...

22 / 05 / 2006 | Van Jaarsveld I | Kirstenbosch NBG

Gladiolus oppositiflorus

Common names: Transkei gladiolus, salmon gladiolus

Family: Iridaceae

Gladioli are popular garden plants, cultivated in Europe for more than 250 years and renowned for their striking, colourful flowers. But did you know that...

15 / 05 / 2006 | Lize Agenbag | Pretoria NBG

Encephalartos trispinosus

Common names: Bushman`s River cycad

Family: Zamiaceae

Encephalartos trispinosus is an excellent garden subject in hot, dry climates and areas which experience frost. The plants do not require a great deal...

15 / 05 / 2006 | John Winter | Kirstenbosch NBG

Thamnochortus bachmannii

Common names: Namaqua thatching reed, steenbok reed (Eng.); steenboksriet (Afr.)

Family: Restionaceae

Eye-catching bronze-brown flowerheads nod in the breeze as the sun sets over the distant mountains-they capture the rays and turn them into a fire dance....

08 / 05 / 2006 | Monique Twine | Kirstenbosch NBG

Monodora junodii

Common names: green-apple (Eng.); groenappel (Afr.); ndzivila (xiTsonga); umKotshi (isiZulu)

Family: Annonaceae

Imagine a tree with a flower like an orchid bloom; one so unusual that next to nothing is known about how to grow it. Would this not be a major garden...

08 / 05 / 2006 | Hugh Glen | KwaZulu-Natal Herbarium

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