A 'CONOTHON': CONOPHYTUM HUNTING IN THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN CAPES - PART TWO

摘要

The 5th May 2007 was described in our itinerary as 'Ghost Hunting' around Jakkalswater. Yes, that's right we were going to devote a day to looking for the mythical C.semivestitum, despite the long (impossible) odds of success. To be honest I was keento see the area I had read so much about but Chris reckoned this was a lost cause - he was right but it was a decent day nonetheless. Jakkalswater is an area in Bushmanland to the NE of Steinkopf and was one of the places we were really glad to have a mapping GPS as the area is rather featureless and there is a good chance of going round in circles. The GPS loaded with detailed 50k topographical South African maps ensured we could follow the same track out as we came in on. We made several stops and scoured (a hands-and-knees job) a number of raised quartz patches. Cheiridopsis, Avonia (completely carpeting some areas of quartz) and Sarcocaulon were relatively abundant and we soon also found C.devium (superb), C.obscurum, C.stevens-jonesianum and C.flavum 'ornatum'. Chris "excelled himself here by spotting a single C.angelicae, just like the zillions of other quartz fragments lying around (Fig 23.1). There was a seed pod so clearly at least one other plant was nearby but even after an hour's painstaking searching we could not find any companions.