4
27 FEBRUARY 2015
NEWS
Seek and you will find... “We were on the lookout for a rare Orchid that only occurs in the Burgersfort area as the story goes. Towards the end of last year we found two species of ground orchids of which we think
one is that legendary orchid rumoured about. The plants were not in flower yet and we decided to go back there early this year to observe the flowers of these orchids” says Mr Gabriël Joubert. Joubert first heard of this orchid in a conversation with Dr Kyle Dexter from the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Dr Dexter was involved in plant research in this area many years ago and he mentioned this very rare occurrence of a twiner that are only recorded to be growing in this area. “On our trip to observe the orchid flowers in January this year I mentioned to my friends to be on the lookout for this twiner. As I was kneeling down taking a soil sample, one of the kids on the trip came up to me with flowers in her hand. Overjoyed we rushed to the spot and lo and behold - the twiner in all its magnificent glory”. The scientific name of the plant is Ceropegia distincta. Subsp. Verruculosa. It was first recorded in this area in 1957 by Roux. Ceropegia forms part of the Milk wood family. It is a perennial twiner or scrambler and is known as Bushman`s pipe, not to be confused with “Oupa se pyp” which commonly occur all over in this area. On the last assessment date 2006/05/16 it was classified by SANBI on the red data list of plants as DDD. Which means it is critically endangered. The plant is mainly threatened by agriculture and grazing. This is indeed a plant to be looked after and
is a great asset to the local community. Some of the other plants of note spotted were the two ground orchid species Eulophia Leachii and Eulophia Petrsii, Ceropegia Nilotica, Orbea carnosa ssp keithii and Huernia stapelioides. Do you recognise the flower in the photograph? “Please contact us if it occurs naturally in
your area. We would also be very interested to learn what orchids occur naturally in your area. A big thank you to everybody granting us access to wonder around learning about the awesome fauna and flora in and around us. Contact Gabriel on e-mail: berghaan0@ gmail.com (Photograph and article: Gabriël Joubert)
Nuwe baadjie vir Voortrekkerbegraafplaas Oor die afgelope paar maande het die Voortrekkerbegraafplaas by Ohrigstad ‘n nuwe baadjie gekry. Veral die Boerevereniging het hiertoe bygedra. Daar is geverf, en die kunstenaar Pieter Krugel het spesiale sementkuns op van die mure aangebring. Die begraafplaas is een van die area se toeriste aantreklikhede en deel van die area se ryk kultuurgeskiedenis. Besoek dit gerus en bekyk die ervaar die nuwe beeld.