@mags49 @JoC
that I think you’ll find interesting - part of a collection photographed in 2014. A unique experience for me and maybe I’ll never be able to complete the sharing. (tag myNAMAexperience)
It’s amazing how this little plant survives, burying itself in the hot summer months. But will the pollinators survive? And the snail is an invader, what will it’s impact be.
Venstertjies - Little Windows
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Yes a remarkable plant. By the way have you seen the collections of this type of plant at Kew (or was it Wisley), not the same as seeing them in the wild of course. I wonder how many people see these plants in botanic gardens and that inspires them to get involved in plant recording or want to see them in the wild.
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Have been to Kew many times but never Wisley.
My love for plants in the wild goes back a long, long way - we were barefooted children that played on the sand dunes in Fish Hoek (mostly lost to developers) and picked the flowers at the road side in the Main Road with my grandmother. Remember being told that they would close when out of the sun.
Choice of career that required botany - chose Pharmacy (subjects included Botany and Pharmacognosy in those days) and enjoyed botanising for pleasure. No regrets.
Might be interesting to know how many students of pharmacy these days know anything about plants or is it just chemical formulae now.
Wisley is worth a visit but greenhouse space much more limited than kew, they do have a new ‘science centre’ which of course is largely a cafe and exhibition space although there are labs etc hidden away. Wisley does things like fruit and veg which are missing from kew along with ornamental plants and garden spaces, it is also on different soil type.
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Thanks for sending a link to this remarkable plant. The coastal fog belt is an interesting habitat, I read through the links in the observation and a couple more on line sources. At a casual glance the delicate green stage looks like sea glass gathered into a grouping.
Got me thinking about global heating’s impact on that area, with its dependence for precipitation on cold ocean current , had a look at this fact sheet https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/factsheets/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Africa.pdf from IPCC 6th assessment report papers. Looks like that part of Africa is likely to experience less precipitation in contrast to the Sahara area, say. Though precipitation patterns are crucial too, the nature of rainfall events really matters…… so, a good opportunity to look at another part of the world, I usually read ipcc stuff about polar areas and Europe.
It’s a very lovely plant, whether in flower or not, green or orange.
This is a really interesting region - mags49
When we were young my father took trips to the Northern Cape Coast and beyond, for the refrigeration of the fishing Industry - the cold current and winds cause “upwelling” - If I remember correctly it was over-fished by foreign vessels.
Then look at the Google Maps and see what Diamond Mining did to the environment.
I think the costal mists will still prevail as long as the cold current is as it is now.
We spent a lot of time in the Langebaan area - remembering days of Whaling and the factory at Donkergat.
Tales of Penguin eggs being harvested from the islands off the coast.
Then the building of the sea terminal at Saldanaha, that changed the currents and altered the coastline of the bay - development by people who needed a second home with a sea view - then needed lighting - so light pollution.
This train on the Sichhen Saldanaha line - carrying iron-ore for export
Train along the coast|690x461
All this in my lifetime, but at least, for the moment the night mists and coastal fogs still provide moisture for the lichens I love, and these amazing plants
M
One of the You Tube videos The Sishen–Saldanha Railway Line - YouTube
Wow, some long trains on that line! I read a book many years ago that got me interested in the environment of the Namib coastal fog belt (and that of Chile and California), The Skeleton Coast by Benedict Allen. I might just take it from the shelf and again view the images of shipwrecks, the Sperrgebiet diamond mine area, the dune systems and so on, and read it again.
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Will need to read more on the climate change impacts, as I say it’s hard to stay abreast of the impacts predicted for different regions, and it will be uneven.
You have some nice memories to ponder.
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Quite am old article but makes one realise that there is more to designing drugs for receptor sites than one realises Progress in Structure Based Drug Design for G Protein-Coupled Receptors
I was fortunate to be able to attend a talk by Deepak Chopra (many moons ago) and remember him saying that God didn’t design the receptor sites for Valium/Prozac merely for the drug companies -
Oh dear - now I’ve got side - tracked listening to a Chopra lecture.