Stop, before you chop!
Living here is like living in a Nature Reserve, surrounded as we are by the Cape’s rich floral kingdom. However, with so many erven being completely cleared for housing, there is a huge need to try to rescue as much fynbos as possible. You can help to preserve the wonderful biodiversity and beauty of the Kogelberg by giving us advance notice, before clearing begins on empty erven.
Educate owners, builders, architects and landscapers that they don’t need to clear the whole plot, they just have to clear the house- and driveway footprints. So if you see any movement on an empty plot, contact us. Our fynbos fairies will arrive with spades and forks to save what precious plants they can!
Ph Galia 082 963 3804
To preserve our very special and unique fynbos heritage in another way, please take note of the following:
Three plants becoming a problem in our area
1. Spanish broom:
It is a big problem and spreading fast
Scientific Name: Spartium junceum
A reed-like shrub up to 2,5m high with long, slender, cylindrical green branches and almost leafless. Leaves are blue-green, silky beneath, and deciduous. Fragrant yellow flowers are borne in terminal clusters 30-40cm long from August to November. Fruits are flattened brown pods up to 75mm long, initially covered with white silky hairs.
The plant comes from Europe, particularly the Mediterranean region and it is a category 1b invasive species in our area, which means it has to be removed responsibly. It is spreading fast in the Overberg area and flowers now. When it is not flowering it is not so easily recognisable.
It spreads through seed dispersal and it has pods with many seeds. Not only does it reduce grazing potential, it competes and replaces indigenous plants. It is also poisonous.
2. Felicia echinata:
It is indigenous but a big problem in our area. It comes from the Eastern Cape and spreads very fast and excludes our natural fynbos.
Felicia echinata is easy to recognize by its glossy leaves that are edged with small white teeth and curved to form a sharp tip. This prickly protection is most probably to discourage animals and insects from taking a bite.
Felicia echinata is an evergreen, much branched perennial that grows to about 60 cm high. The branches are almost entirely covered with the shiny, dark green leaves. The stiff little leaves are oval to triangular in shape, pointing downwards away from the stem, almost overlapping each other. The branches bend and turn, relaxing on the ground and then turning up to the sun, each with 2 – 3 large daisies at their tips.
The flowers are usually mauve with a bright yellow centre, but white flowers are also occasionally found in the wild. Both forms flower profusely for a few months from autumn to spring. After flowering the flowers turn into fluffy seed heads. The seeds are light brown, flat and oval shaped with a tuft of long hairs attached to the tip, which allows them to be carried away on the breeze
3. Senecio pterophorus:
It is indigenous but becoming a big problem in our area. It also comes from the Eastern Cape, spreads very fast and excludes our natural fynbos.
Senecio pterophorus is a short-lived perennial herb to shrub 1-1.5 m high, with green leaves that are slightly hairy and grey underneath. It produces yellow flowers and which turn into fluffy seed heads with a tuft of long hairs attached to the tip, which allows them to be carried away on the breeze.
They are now seen along most of the roads in the Overberg area and are becoming more wide-spread each year. It is an aggressive pioneer species that readily invades disturbed sites.
In natural ecosystems Senecio pterophorus is strongly competitive, and can form dense thickets that exclude native species.
Adele Scheepers
CREW