Mesembs and Euphorbias !

[FlorentG]

Hi there!

It's not very sunny today so let's have a look at some more pics from South Africa !

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3738/dsc02351d.jpg[/IMG]
1/ Euphorbia sp, from Floriskraal (near Laingsburg), can reach 1 meter, a lot of branchs. Euphorbia alluaudii?

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7093/dsc0454i.jpg[/IMG]
2/ This annual grows near Vanrhynsdorp, with Conophytum obcordellum, in sand.

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3879/dsc0446s.jpg[/IMG]
3/ On the same sand field, with euphorbia loricata... Those thin Euphorbias are frequently encountered in SA!

And now some mesembs... Very difficult to identify without flowers! And a lot of Cheiridopsis look the same...
[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9352/36996325.jpg[/IMG]
4/ This Cheiridopsis grows at Plattbakkies with Pelargonium dasyphyllum

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3602/1 ... rassul.jpg[/IMG]
5/ This one is also very widespread all around Plattbakkies and Gamoep. Cheiridopsis meyeri?

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3420/2 ... otussp.jpg[/IMG]
6/ Goegap Park near Springbok, Carpobrotus sp?


[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/797/33 ... psissp.jpg[/IMG]
7/ Blesberg mine, Cheiridopsis meyeri? With Avonia albissima, Crassula columnaris var proliferans

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7707/dsc0245r.jpg[/IMG]
8/ Beauvallon near Alexander Bay, Cheiridopsis herrei? C. brownii?

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9535/dsc0171p.jpg[/IMG]
9/ Beauvallon, cheiridopsis or another genus? (Juttadinteria?)

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/954/dsc0213eoc.jpg[/IMG]
10/ Bloedrift, near the Orange River, Cheiridopsis brownii?

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5926/1 ... psissp.jpg[/IMG]
11/ 25km north Lekkersing, Cheiridopsis robusta? Juttadinteria?

[IMG]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/630/dsc00523n.jpg[/IMG]
12/ 25km north Lekkersing, Cheiridopsis ?

Thanks and have a nice day,

Florent

[iann]

Sorry I can't confirm any of those names for you, but I would say your "Carpobrotus" is not and is presumably also a Cheiridopsis. They're all great-looking plants. That first one looking just the slightest bit distressed?

[Julie]

Beautiful!! And they are in such good nick for habitat plants. They'd win prizes at shows! Love those fat ripe Euhporbia pods.

Try as I can... I can't see that obcordellum....

[FlorentG]

You can't see Conophytum obcordellum because he is not on the picture:D, I was just telling it was growing on the same sand field:

[IMG]http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8615/dsc0459s.jpg[/IMG]

Conophytum obcordellum

[Julie]

Aaaaah so my eyes are not so bad then.

He's a beauty.. lovely shaped clump and a little pod there hiding in the fissure.

[Apicra]

Been busy ... but some years ago I got all my Cheiridopsis slides together and tried to identify them from the books. The revision from Hamburg University missed a lot of species, but Steven Hammer has written about them and has a study collection in California.

1) Anyway, surely this is Euphorbia mauritanica, although the first terminal flower on a stem has ten-fold symmetry.

2) Lovely! There are several similar in the Nieuwoudtville wild flower Guide 9, but I'll go with Lapeirousia jacquinii, an Irid bulb.

3) Try Euphorbia burmannii.

4) Red collars! Sheathing, with very two unequal length leaf pairs each year. I think that fits Steve's C. gamoepensis.

5) Is quite large and chunky, to judge from the Crassulas. It was years before I realised these are Ihlenfeldtia excavata and not Cheiridopsis.

6) Ian is correct and I'm surprised you did not recognise the widespread-on-granite/gneiss C. denticulata.

7) This is where I struggle - C. schlecteri has been joined by Steve's C. amabilis and Graham Williamson's C. campanulata, I'm not sure how to sort them out.

8) Probably, C. brownii. Distributions: C. brownii Sendelingsdrif to Holgat Rivier, C. herrei SE Eksteenfontein.

9) The smoother leaf surface looks like Dracophilus/Juttadinteria both with 8-11+ locules, rather than Cheiridopsis. I've seen D. dealbatus there.

10) So C. brownii fits.

11) With three leaf pairs on a head, we can rule out Cheiridopsis. Wish I could see the buds better. It's a bit compact for Juttadinteria, maybe Nelia pilansii, but the intact bud looks yellow?

12) Now that's Cheiridopsis robusta.

Finally Julie, I think that is a boring clone of Cono. obcordellum! There are much better marked populations further S, both on sandstone inselbergs in the sandveld, and up on the big Cederberg inland.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble,
London, UK

[FlorentG]

Derek, a closer view on the plant, if it helps...

[IMG]http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/9531/dsc00363xob.jpg[/IMG]

Best wishes and thank you very much,

Florent

[Apicra]

Alas the buds have been nibbled off, but I now read that Nelia only has 5 locules, so that is out, leaving Juttadinteria.

I've only seen Juttadinterias near the Organge River. Was this by the roadside of the N-S track Kuboos - Lekkersing, or did you turn off E or W? Several of your photos here have puzzled me. I haven't been around there for over a decade.

Best wishes,
DT

[FlorentG]

Sorry Derek I made a mistake about the location, this plant was actually located near the Orange river, in Bloeddrift (not far from Cornell's Kop).
Juttadinteria should be fine!

Best wishes,

Florent