On my first trip to South Africa in 1992 I visited Vyftienmyl se berg or Augrabies as it's better known, which is arguably the richest succulent plant mountain there is. So on my 12th trip to South Africa recently my friend Andy Young expressed interest in going there, as he had heard so much about it but had yet to see for himself. As my previous time there was in my Agfa photographic slide days, I was happy enough to go again so I could take new digital pictures. We knew it was most unlikely we'd find anything new as it has been botanised by so many ever since the very first explorers.....but the challenge was to find and photograph the nine different Conophytums known to grow there. I'm happy to be corrected if anyone knows of more – it would be a good excuse to return again! I saw them all in 1992 so had high hopes of repeating the feat with Andy. It's a huge mountain almost 5 miles in length and over a 1000ft at it's highest point, so it's rather hard work and not as easy as you might think when looking for such tiny plants! It's not at all impossible that there are new things to find on there.
Having been granted permission by the land owner based in in Port Nolloth, we started up at about 10am and the first Cono we came across was C.meyeri. As it was late April, Conophytums are mostly flowering in the southern hemisphere autumn.
Hardly the rarest of Conophytums......but the scenery is amazing!
In contrast, the next plant I came across was one of the rarest there, C.obscurum ssp. barbatum. First found by Harry Hall in 1956 it had not been reported since, until Derek Tribble found it again on my 1992 trip. Current theories suggest this could be a hybrid Conophytum as it has rarely been seen in numbers – usually just one to a few plants – unlike the other species on here which grow in large groups or populations. I would suggest C.jucundum ssp. marlothii X C.bolusiae.
Much of Augrabies is made up from these massive quartzite blocks. When the sun is beating down, these are still quite cool.
Onward & upward, the next find was C.breve 'subtile'.
As I mentioned, it's a succulent rich mountain holding many different genera and some endemics. In a shady fissure we found a Gasteria I hadn't seen before. I hoped it was new, but turns out to be G.pillansii v. hallii. Seen here growing with Haworthia arachnoidea, Crassula hemisphaerica and a mesemb I've no idea of...
Having climbed about two thirds of the way up, we then started to walk south as I remembered from last time that the succulents get sparser toward the top. On the top was really disappointing as it was flat but covered in low growing shrubs so I knew this visit that our time could be better spent looking along the mountain. The next Cono we came across was C.hians, which was growing with a few more C.meyeri. As the aspect changes and sometimes the geology too, so different plants take to that particular niche. Just subtle changes can make the difference.
Closer up to a very common Conophytum shows how attractive it can be.
We'd been up there a few hours by now and a few hundred yards further on came upon Conophytum jucundum ssp. marlothii. The tiny bluish bodies seem to define this cono and it's an easy one for novices to grow.
So that was five seen and four to go......and I knew from experience we now had to change our focus. Two of the conos we'd yet to find are endemics and a third likes the same southerly aspect in shade. So knowing all these conos are all shade lovers, we walked until we came to one of the many kloofs (or valleys) which cut into the side of the mountain and looked to the side facing south. The first we found was probably the most iconic of all - the hairy Conophytum stephanii.
Like Cono hians in sun, C.stephanii likes the same sort of horizontaly split quartzite, but prefers shade.
It's such an amazing plant with it's long, white hairs. Some suggest it has developed the hairs in order to collect moisture from the regular fogs which roll in all the way from the coast 15 miles away. Or to provide the bodies even more shade.....but if either are the case, how come the other eight cono species on there haven't developed hairs?
Time was getting on now and it was mid-afternoon. Andy & I had long since lost track of our travelling companions, Alice & Alan Vanden Bon and we had been out of radio contact for some time. When we started out that morning we had agreed on 4pm back at the vehicles – but it was now 3.00pm, at least an hours walk back there and we still had three conos to find! In the distance we saw some shady cliffs and I agreed with Andy that we'd look at those then have to set off back, even if it meant we'd fail in our task. The going got more and more difficult because as we got closer to the cliffs and in deeper shade, so the vegetation got thicker and very difficult to get through. Andy walks in shorts – but (since getting a Tick bite necessitating a trip to the Tropical Diseases centre at our local hospital after a trip in 2005) I now wear long trousers – so Andy's legs were bleeding from cuts and scratches. We commented then that most people have no idea what we put ourselves through to see these plants! I reached the cliff face first and was able to shout back with encouragement to Andy that another cono was on there. This is C.bolusiae (or intrepidum or fibuliforme, whatever you want to call it) growing in deep shade, here with another Augrabies endemic, Tylecodon bodleyae.
There were plants of all sizes, some small....
…..and some HUGE! This plant must be ancient – and a sight to see when in flower. But we'd obviously missed the main flowering time as there was just a single head left in flower.
Just two more to find, but it was very hot and we were both ready to succumb to the call of the fridge back at the vehicle and a cold drink! I looked to the distance further along the cliff face and saw about 50 yards ahead that it turned slightly, so another face was out of sight, This meant another change in aspect so had to be worth a look as we were so close to it. I pushed ahead and soon shouted back to Andy once more that the effort would be worth it – because there in even deeper shade was a small population of C.francoisiae.
No flowers to be seen this time though as this species is one of the earliest in the season to bloom, usually June in northern hemisphere cultivation, so probably November in habitat.
So we'd more or less done it – only bilobum to find – but who's bothered about that?! The Augrabies bilobum was named C.'variabile' back in the old days and is nothing to get excited about. So we set off back down the mountain and and made radio contact with Alice & Alan as soon as we could. It was after 4 pm when we got back down and while walking across the flats at the base of the mountain, Andy exclaimed, “look, bilobum”! And sure enough, I'd walked straight past it......but I can't provide proof as I was too knackered to take a picture! Look how hot it was
Conophytum hunting is not so easy! Alice & Alan kindly drove back down the road to collect us – we'd walked so far over the mountain that we came down more than a mile from the vehicles.
If you enjoyed this, please take a look at my website photo gallery – I recently uploaded 133 new pictures mostly from this last trip. Click on the “New Images” tab to see them.
