CONOTHON 3 -CONO HUNTING IN THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN CAPES, MAY 2009

摘要

C.hanae was a wonderful discovery by Petr Pavelka in 1999 and because of the remoteness of the area has been seen in habitat only by a few conophiles. None of us on this trip had seen this very distinctive plant in habitat. The area in which it occurs(near Sterkstroom farm) was our focus for Day 8 but it proved to be a day in which our plans changed markedly, and my navigation skills were fully put to test. At Sterkstroom we searched high and low on the north-facing slopes of one of the granite hills that dominate the area, but to no avail (frustratingly and on reflection we probably did not go high enough find C.hanae). We did find conos and other succulents - Cuviforme (the "clarum" form) was common along with Avonia quinaria on the lower slopes.Driving further east away from the farm buildings we stopped near a fountain to explore some low-lying terraces. These terraces were clearly different and as such are always worth a look. True enough, in the grit flats in between the rocks we found a very small-headed form of C.pellucidum (fig 27.35). Bodies were brown (cupreatum-ish), had finished flowering and were typically single-headed only a couple of clusters were seen. They closely resembled those plants observed by Gerhard Wagner in the same general area a few years ago, and may well be deserved of a name (amongst other features the convex shape of the body is really quite distinctive). C.hanae remained elusive (another trip needed?).