The Klaserie In Bloom

These are a few of the flowers we’ve started to see when driving in the reserve.

String of Stars

(Helitropium steudneri)

This beautiful small white “flower” is actually a perennial herb. The flowers grow alongside one another in rows, as if tiny stars have been bound together to a string. This herb grows in disturbed grassland areas, and the flowers appear in summer. The name Helitropium means “to turn to the sun”.

Wild Pomegranates

It is a stiff, often spiny shrub. They grow in the drier parts of the region. They look dead for most of the year, until they become a beautiful sight with golden yellow blossoms during spring and summer.

Spider Lily

The spider lilly is one of the first (if not “the” first) ground flower we see in our area, after some decent rain. They appear in small patches in different areas, and all flower quite quickly after each other. The low veld heat affects them, and they seem to only be able to stay in flower for a short period when there is continuous sunlight and high temperatures. The lilies can flower more than once during a good rainy season. The stalk, leaves and flowers are mildly poisonous, but the bulbs are very poisonous.

Blood Lily

The Blood Lily is quite a magnificent flower. It grows up to 500 mm in height and has a red-brown spotted flowering stem and glossy green, wave-like leaves. The magnificent inflorescence, which is 150 mm wide, has red to red-brown bracts which encircle the massive dark orange to red coloured flowers.  It is mostly found growing in shade in grass veld and in rocky areas.

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