Surprise finds around Raap & Skraap

After a more relaxed day in transit, everybody was keen and ready to explore the new area.  Our first impression was that the habitat around Raap-en-Skraap did not benefit much from the rain in the Little Pella region. The vegetation had more grass en bushes and fewer succulents, but the scientists will soon tell us….

Devil's Thorn in full bloom

Toyota & Goodyear an unbeatable combination

The different teams set off on the 4x4 route and each group covered different areas. The teams came back to the field laboratory with a total tally of about 100 samples for the day. Dr. Anthony Magee, senior scientist of SANBI at Kirstenbosch told us that this area has never been explored and all the records are new data for the Compton and National Herbarium. He is very pleased with the results of today’s sampling. Raap en Skraap did its name proud!

Exploring the dry rocky hills ±1km inland from the
Orange River  on the Karsten's Keboes Fruit Farm

All 4 genera of the duwweltjie of the Northern Cape were found on the farm today. The specialists could identify them from their flowers and fruit.

Lyn Fish (retired) is still involved in grass collections at the National Herbarium in Pretoria. She was excited to collect 5 specimens of grass. The best spot for this was the banks of the Orange River where her team collected 3 grass species and surprisingly found less invasive species than expected. One of the grass species collected was eragrostis sarmentosa, it is possibly the first distribution record for this area.

Simon taking a close-up

Chrizelle Beukes and Mashudu Nxumalo from the University of Pretoria found legumes (species of Indigofera and Tephrosia) today, which is what their specialty. They are microbiologists who are interested in the bacteria that form nodules on the roots of these plants, in which the bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen for the plant while the plant provides the bacteria with nutrients. Unfortunately today’s legumes did not have any nodules. This could be because the levels of soil nitrogen are sufficient for plant growth. It is only when the plant experiences a shortage of nitrogen that they send out a signal to bacteria in the soil, and then the bacteria activate the genes they use during the symbiosis and enter the legume roots.

Lize, Mariaan, Mashudu, Chrizelle & Pieter

The general consensus is that 'gansmis' (the colloquial name for one of the species collected) or avonia papyracea is the “find of the day”. The flowers of these plants appear only in late afternoon for a few hours. This plant species has a restricted distribution and is only found in southern Namibia, the Richtersveld and in this area.

Gansmis