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Merwilla plumbea

The flowers are always beautiful, but this spot in a wetland is set to be stunning when all the hundreds of buds open in about a week or so. These few photos are but a prelude.

Dwarf Scilla

Robyn's Yarrow Falls Walk.

Found in rock strewn grassland just above the Yarrow Falls. Many small plants often in close gaps between the rocks. Not seen in the open grassland. Leaves are about 50mm and the plant 5 times that.From Pooley:KZN I would have classified it as Dwarf Scilla (S. kraussi) however there is a story about this.

Story of the Two Scilla Cousins.

This is a true story. Once upon a time, when men were men and botanists went into the field to classify their plants there were two Scilla cousins, the smaller Scilla kraussii (known as Dwarf Scilla to his friends) and bigger Scilla natalensis (known as Large Blue Scilla). They lived happily together. But then the big bad DNA Sequencer came along and botanists spent their time in their offices writing grant proposal and pouring over the DNA evidence. The aweful truth (or so say some) came out - they were not cousins but siblings. In shame, they both changed their name to Merwilla plumbea and according to the SANBI red list not longer have pet names.

Unfortunately this has not stopped the muti trade over exploiting them. So we are very thankful to Robyn and the Karkloof Conservation Centre, so these magnificent flowers can live in relative security for the benifit of all human kind.