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Duvalia Vestita
''Duvalia vestita'' is a small succulent plant species, in the family Apocynaceae, indigenous to the southernmost part of the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Description ''Duvalia vestita'' is sometimes considered to be a subspecies of ''D.caespitosa''. The flowers are 20-30mm in diameter, and are brownish-red to almost black. The central annulus is covered in short, dark hairs. The Petal, lobes are also hairy, at least near their bases where they are also slightly more spread out than typical ''Duvalia caespitosa''. The margins of the lobes are not ciliate. The stems are variable, but are sometimes slender and rhizomatous, like those of ''Duvalia immaculata''. Individual stems are 5-22mm wide and 10-80mm long. The tiny (maximum 1mm) leaf-rudiments barely have stipular glands. When not in flower, ''D.vestita'' can resemble ''Orbea variegata'', a species it often grows among. Like ''D.caespitosa'', ''D.vestita'' is a tetraploid. In appearance, it is somewhat intermediate b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants") which is sister of the Glaucophyte, Glaucophyta, and consists of the green algae and Embryophyte, Embryophyta (land plants). The latter includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and Fern ally, their allies, hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. Most plants are multicellular organisms. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green colo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overberg
__NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the east. The boundaries of the Overberg are the Hottentots-Holland mountains in the West; the Riviersonderend Mountains, part of the Cape Fold Belt, in the North; the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the South and the Breede River in the East. The area has always been considered as the breadbasket of the Cape and is largely given to grain farming — mainly wheat. The wheat fields are a major breeding ground for South Africa's national bird, the blue crane. Another important crop in the Overberg is fruit, with the Elgin Valley producing about 60 percent of the total annual apple crop of about 819 000 tonnes (2012 data). Nestled in the Overberg, one can find the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve (recognised and registered with UNESCO) popul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms when these minerals precipitate out of water containing dissolved calcium. This can take place through both biological and nonbiological processes, though biological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea, have likely been more important for the last 540 million years. Limestone often contains fossils which provide scientists with information on ancient environments and on the evolution of life. About 20% to 25% of sedimentary rock is carbonate rock, and most of this is limestone. The remaining carbonate rock is mostly dolomite, a closely related rock, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, . ''Magnesian limestone'' is an obsolete and poorly-defined term used variously for dolomite, for lime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite.Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy (1996) ''Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic'', 2nd ed., Freeman, pp. 281–292 Shale is characterized by its tendency to split into thin layers ( laminae) less than one centimeter in thickness. This property is called '' fissility''. Shale is the most common sedimentary rock. The term ''shale'' is sometimes applied more broadly, as essentially a synonym for mudrock, rather than in the more narrow sense of clay-rich fissile mudrock. Texture Shale typically exhibits varying degrees of fissility. Because of the parallel orientation of clay mineral flakes in shale, it breaks into thin layers, often splintery and usually parallel to the otherwise indistinguishable bed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate and rainy winters. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting of about 80% (8,500 fynbos) species of the Cape floral kingdom, where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic. This land continues to face severe human-caused threats, but due to the many economic uses of the fynbos, conservation efforts are being made to help restore it. Overview and history The word fynbos is often confusingly said to mean "fine bush" in Afrikaans, as "bos" means "bush". Typical fynbos foliage is ericoid rather than fine. The term, in its pre-Afrikaans, Dutch form, ''fynbosch'', was recorded by N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breede River Valley
Breede River Valley is a region of Western Cape Province, South Africa known for being the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the Western Cape, as well as South Africa's leading race-horse breeding area. It is part of the Boland bordering on becoming Little Karoo towards the east. Geography The Breede River Valley is relatively broad and flat for a Western Cape valley, averaging at a floor height of 80m-250m above sea-level. Western regions are mostly alluvial and flat, while eastern regions have more hills of the Bokkeveld Group with narrow alluvial deposits. The valley is framed by the high mountains of the Cape Fold Belt, with the Hex River Mountains and the Skurweberge to the northwest, the Langeberg Mountains (up to 2000m) to the north, the smaller Boland Mountains to the southwest, and the Riviersonderend Mountains to the south. It stretches from Tulbagh in the north to McGregor in the south and Rawsonville in the west to Ashton and Bonnievale in the east. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robertson Karoo
Robertson Karoo is a semi-arid vegetation type, restricted to sections of the Breede River Valley, Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is a subtype of Succulent Karoo (geographically an extension of the "Little Karoo") and is characterised by the dominance of succulent plant species, and by several endemic plants and animals. Location and extent This vegetation type occurs in several large patches within the Breede River Valley, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It occurs in the area between Worcester in the north-west, Ashton in the east, and the Riviersonderend mountains in the south. Landscape and climate Robertson Karoo typically consists of low hills and flats covered in small succulent vegetation, usually growing on rocky shale-based soils. The climate is semi-arid due to the region lying in the rainshadow of the large mountain ranges to the south-west, but the rainfall does tend to occur mainly in winter. This vegetation type has a large number of endem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Langeberg
The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,075 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just to the north of Swellendam, in a subrange known as the Clock Peaks whose highest point is the 1,710 m high Misty Point. Local lore states one can tell the time by means of the shadows cast by the seven summits of the Clock Peaks. Etymology The name is Dutch and means "long mountain" Physiography and geology The range runs roughly NW/SE in its western part and in an east-west direction in its mid and eastern section and is approximately 250 km long, from Worcester, past Robertson, Montagu, Swellendam, Heidelberg and Riversdale to the proximity of George. The Langeberg's most westerly point is located 5 km east of the town of Worcester; the range ends some 20 km North of Mossel Bay in the east. The open plains of the Lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duvalia Caespitosa Vestita - Ashton - Copy
''Duvalia'' is a succulent plant genus in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, in the family Apocynaceae (dogbane). The genus was first described in 1812, named after the French physician and botanist Henri-Auguste Duval (1777-1814). Description Vegetative The ''Duvalia'' species are succulent, perennial plants with low, planar growth. The stems are clavate, cylindrical to spherical, in cross-section four-, five-or six-edged, and to about 10 inches long. They can range from green, gray to mottled reddish in color. The stems of some species, such as the rounded ''Duvalia parviflora'', are distinctive, and these species can be identified even when not in flower. However the stems are very variable, and most ''Duvalia'' species can only be distinguished from each other when the flower is seen. The stems are superficially very similar to those of the related genus ''Piaranthus'', and the two are often confused when not in flower. In cross-section, ''Duvalia'' stems are sometime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the family are native to the European, Asian, African, Australian, and Americas, American tropics or subtropics, with some temperate members. The former family Asclepiadaceae (now known as Asclepiadoideae) is considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae and contains 348 genera. A list of Apocynaceae genera may be found List of subfamilies and genera of Apocynaceae, here. Many species are tall trees found in tropical forests, but some grow in tropical dry (xeric) environments. Also perennial plant, perennial herbs from temperate zones occur. Many of these plants have milky latex, and many species are poisonous if ingested, the family being rich in genera containing alkaloids and cardiac glycosides, those containing the latter often finding use as arr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duvalia Elegans
''Duvalia elegans'' (the "elegant Duvalia") is a small succulent plant species, in the family Apocynaceae. It is the type species of the genus ''Duvalia'', and it is endemic to the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Description This species closely resembles the widespread and common '' Duvalia caespitosa'', and the two species often grow alongside each other within the Breede River Valley. However, the flowers of ''Duvalia elegans'' are smaller (15-22mm diameter) and distinctive. Their five radiating corolla-tips are very dark brown-purple, glossy and usually densely hairy. The shape of the corolla-tips is slightly triangular, because their margins are spread out, and only slightly reflexed (not tightly folded down, replicate, like those of most ''Duvalia'' species). The centre of the flower is covered by a prominent, flat coronal disc, which is not glossy, and is often a lighter colour. The flowers are usually held out on long stalks that grow from the base of each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbea Variegata
''Orbea variegata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, known as the star flower. It is native to the coastal belt of the Western Cape, South Africa, growing actively during the winter rainfall season. It is an invasive species in southern Australia. Description Growing to tall by broad, it is a leafless succulent perennial with cactus-like toothed stems, and highly variable, star-shaped, off-white or yellow flowers strongly speckled with maroon, up to in diameter. The flowers may show regular (banded) markings, or irregular ones. They have five pointed or blunt lobes surrounding a central, pentagonal annulus (corona). The flowers may have a faint carrion smell to attract potential insect pollinators. Cultivation This plant is popular in cultivation, and is often sold under its former name ''Stapelia variegata''. It has many common names, including starfish plant, starfish cactus, carrion cactus, carrion flower, toad cactus, toad plant. It is not close ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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