Pictures of the Green Cathedral of South Africa tell more than an endless stream of words: See for yourself and enjoy:
That Heads of Medusa (label on photo one) is really something. Is it a catus, succulent ...... Is this it?? http://ekapa.ioisa.org.za/module5/Euphorbia_marlothiana.htm Liz
It's an Euphorbia caput Medusa Endemic to the Table Mountain in Cape Town but you will hardly see them there anymore. One of South African habits is poaching; unfortunately mostly done by some nurseries and since there is 'economic interest' in export, authorities seem not to mind. But if there is a botanist from overseas collecting seeds (cuttings, etc.) in the 'veld' you can be assured of plenty of publicity ........ Here in our Klaas Voogds area some succulent plant species are fully dissapeared. Poor farm workers, for example, who know plants are getting 'shopping lists' of a nursery and collect during the night. They get R 5.00 (half a US-dollar) for a box with 50 or so Euphorbia Crispa; the nursery exports the caudexes for R 45.00 each and in Germany you can mail order them for EURO 45.00 From a private nature reserve nearby we know that all tree ferns (up to certain size) were poached overnight and within 1 month virtually all retail nurseries in the Western Cape had special offers on tree ferns. That was 8 yrs ago but it provides you with an idea. As for ourselves we have in total 9 permits to do what we are doing and they check our plant administration (red data list plants) every year. If we collect plant material in the 'veld' we always have a written consent of the owner of the land including list of plants/plantmaterial we collect (only for propagation purposes) including location, etc. We don't mind, we even support this but on the other hand it's bitter to experience other practices by unscrupulous people.
Thankyou, That is so sad that economics is yet again the cause of demolishing nature. We had a similar problem re tree ferns quiet a number of years ago. All have to be tagged. I am luck some are self sown in my garden. [tree fern central around here] We are also lucky this is an island therefore harder to get stuff out. Mind you they do try our birds and reptiles on a fairly regular basis. I guess one can only hope the captured plants survive and create a viable batch so that maybe one day they can be returned to their wilderness. Liz
What's the thing in the second pic that looks like a concrete rabbit sculpture? Adenium obesum perhaps?
It's a plant; to be more specific Cyphostemma juttea. Locals also call it 'Our meid se boude' (=Old womans bump)
