Meadowridge Common on iSpot

Today, iSpot has an interesting observation by Tony Rebelo entitled "Syntree".
A syntree: a collection of trees that together grow to the same form as a single tree would.
Click here to go to the iSpot observation and to read the follow-up comments.

A winter visit to the Common

The rehabilitated wetland area. Blombos (Metalasia densa) growing on the left.

Sacred Ibis and Cattle Egrets on the flooded soccer fields.

The Cluster Spiderhead (Serrurua glomerata) growing in the rehabilitated wetland area.

Other flowers you can expect to find on the Common in June are Ploegtydblommetjie (Empodium plicatum), Bietou (Chrysanthemoides monilifera), Ganskos (Cotula turbinata) and  Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis pes-caprae). 

Kirstenbosch: 100 years and still blooming

The AGM of the Friends of Meadowridge Common will be held on Wednesday 27 February
at the Meadowridge Library, at 7.30 p.m. 

The meeting will conclude with a presentation by Olwen Gibson, one of Kirstenbosch's Garden Guides, on the Kirstenbosch Centenary which takes place this year. Olwen will take us on a “virtual walk” through Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden to find out how an abandoned farm in 1913 became one of the top botanical gardens in the world one hundred years later.
Refreshments and secure parking will be provided. Everyone is welcome.
For directions on how to get here, click here. 


Kirstenbosch in 1913: a dilapidated farm. Photo: The Elliott Collection. 

 

The same view today. Photo: Alice Notten.

The flora of Meadowridge/Bergvliet open spaces

Areas of botanical significance within Meadowridge and Bergvliet

by Stuart Hall

Apart from the largest and most important remnant patch of natural vegetation within the area, Meadowridge Common, there are a number of other less well documented open spaces which also contain an interestingly high number of indigenous plant species including a number not usually encountered within such an established suburb with the levels of disturbance present here. The natural vegetation cover found here originally was mostly Cape Flats Sand Fynbos found on light acidic sandy soil as well as Peninsula Granite Fynbos found on granite-derived clay.

While Meadowridge common (an example of lowland acid-sand plain fynbos: CFSF) contains around 120 species of indigenous plants growing wild, other open spaces nearby have as much as over 40 species in some cases, as noted in the plant species list. Each locality was named usually according to the roads on which it is situated. In some cases species were recorded with the date first noted in order to give some idea of when they are present if not perennial, as many plants still persisting in the area are able to do so because they are geophytes (bulbs) or at least somewhat dormant for part of the year.

Summer on Meadowridge Common

Although it doesn't look very colourful in summer, the Common is full of surprises.

You can find butterflies like this Painted Lady (Vanessa* cardui).

Or the beautiful blue pea-flowers of the Fountain Bush (Psoralea pinnata).

The Sweet Sprayflower or Heuningblommetjie (Struthiola dodecandra) flowers from November to March.

And there is always a pelargonium in bloom. This one is the Wild Storksbill (Pelargonium cucullatum subsp. cucullatum).

*Sometimes also called Cynthia cardui (see http://www.ispot.org.za/node/152867#comment-48640).

Spring walk on the Common

Join Olwen Gibson, experienced tour guide leader, and the Friends of Meadowridge Common on a guided walks on the Common to view our special spring flowers.

The walk will take place on Saturday 29 September 2012. Meet on the gravel road that leads off Faraday Way towards the soccer fields at 12h15.

The walks are free, but non-members will be asked for a donation towards the Friends of Meadowridge Common.

For more information about the walks, please phone Fiona Watson at 021 712 0696 or click here.

The Lost Fynbos of Tokai Park

This is the subject of a talk by Tony Rebelo of the Threatened Species Research Unit of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) at Kirstenbosch. The restoration of Tokai represents one of our last opportunities to link ecological processes from the top of Table Mountain to the lowlands of the Cape Flats. It is also one of the last places where we still have a chance to rehabilitate a sustainable area of critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos.
Join the Friends of Meadowridge Common (custodians of a small remnant of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos) to hear Tony, an expert in this field and one of South Africa’s top scientists, explain why this is such an important project.

Date: Wednesday 12 September 2012
Venue: Meadowridge Library hall. Click here for map.
Time: 19h30.
Entrance fee: Free for Friends of Meadowridge Common. R10 for visitors.

Refreshments will be served afterwards.
For more information, please phone Fiona Watson at 021 712 0696.

A set of greeting cards will be on sale to raise funds for maintenance and upkeep of Meadowridge Common. The cards feature paintings by botanical artist, Olwen Gibson, of four flowers that occur on the common: Pelargonium triste, Pelargonium cucullatum, Salvia chamelaeagnea and Wachendorfia paniculata. A pack of four cards costs R50 but Friends of Meadowridge Common only pay R40. For more information, click here.

Photo: Paul and Liz Johnston, Anthony Hitchcock, Eric Harley and Tony Norton with the Erica verticillata plants that were successfully restored to the Prinskasteel wetland in Tokai, by Tony Rebelo. See article in Veld & Flora March 2012.