H E R B S                                                          NO 69        NOVEMBER   2003 WILD LIFE, WILD WEATHER AT OUR WILD FLOWER FESTIVAL 2003

But on opening day the showers were vanquished by the Spring sunshine and hundreds of visitors from all over the world enjoyed our second Wildflower Festival at Fernkloof. More than R70 000 was raised towards conservation projects. There were setbacks, of course. Carol, our star caterer, broke her ankle a few weeks before showtime but ran a a record breaking business on crutches with her team's help nevertheless. The marquee threatened to blow away in a North-west gale as it went up, but morning came and it was still safely there. The raffle fruit cake was eaten one night by unknown wildlife and had to be replaced. Trestles for the marquee eventually arrived at midnight before the show opened. But it all came together and compliments flowed. The sunrise to sunset theme of the flower show was simply and effectively landscaped to follow the latest Wildflower Association regulations for flower shows . The specimens, all four hundred of them, elicited comment and queries. In the marquee bird calls lured visitors on to a mini Cliff Path and into a mysterious afro-montane forest. A superb photographic exhibition was surrounded by crafts and conservation projects. Up the hill the nursery made record sales. All in all there was something for everyone including busloads of school children. Teamwork was of a high standard and thanks are due in particular to municipal and nursery staff for their help and to everyone , including the media, for making the festival what it was - a place of peace, of beauty, with an overlay of pleasant spending and browsing in tranquil surroundings. Next year our Wildflower Festival will be held from Thursday September 23, 2004 to Monday September 27, 2004.

CARNIVORES, BIG AND SMALL, STEAL THE SHOW

Corner of the Flower Show which held the greatest fascination for viewers housed the miniature drosera (sundew) garden backed by our rare large carnivorous plant Roridula gorgonias sticky with its victims enfolded in a red hairy embrace. Small boys were entranced at the thought that a plant could kill an insect - or bigger. Our most recent knowledge of this fascinating flora comes from Dr Bruce Anderson who graduated with a Ph.D from UCT earlier this year with a thesis on this plant. This is what he has to say (in shortened form) on the subject: One of the most intriguing aspects of Roridula is that the plants have no digestive enzymes to digest their prey. This puzzled scientists for 90 years and initially they believed that Roridula was not a carnivore because it could not digest its prey. They postulated that the droplets were a defense mechanism to stop herbivorous insects from eating them. Research in the late 90s changed all this. Bruce and co. noticed that there were small bugs (Pameridea-Miridae) which lived on Roridula in great abundance. The bugs hold their bodies away from the traps, and, with specially adapted feet, they can run at great speed over what would be a death trap for any other insect These bugs roam the plants in search of food - insect food. When an insect is found, struggling helplessly again the stickiness, the bugs approach cautiously. A jousting match ensues. The bugs probe with their probosci looking for a weak spot in the exoskeleton of the prey. Each time the prey moves, the bug retreats, only to probe again and again. With each probe, a tiny amount of venom is injected and soon the insect prey succumbs and dies. Within half an hour black bugs would have flown from close by and a massive seething scrum would have developed, vying for a place at the carcass, using their hind legs to lash out at rivals that got too close. Soon the prey is reduced to a dry husk and the bloated bugs slowly disperse. But before they disperse, they defecate on the leaves of Roridula. The nitrogen rich faeces are fertilizer for Roridula which can absorb the nitrogen straight through their leaves. So Roridula does not need need digestive enzymes - it has an army of living organisms to do the job of digestion! More about Roridula next time…

WANTED! Voluntary helpers for the nursery. Contact Jack Bold at 028-3122985

DID YOU KNOW? Three of our wildflower festival posters sporting the King protea are on their way to New Jersey USA at the special request of three Rutgers University professors. There they will be framed and placed on their office walls. Prof Kathe Callahan, visiting Auberge Burgundy, fell in love with our poster and wrote to us on our website. Together with their compliment comes a welcome donation to Fernkloof. The wine auction held at the Wine Village courtesy of Paul du Toit raised R12 000 towards our show and accompanying conservation projects. Thank you Paul, once again. Our new fragrance garden created by Jack Bold and his helpers, courtesy of Heather Virtue-Evans, was officially opened at the end of September in a quiet midday ceremony. Family guests came from afar to attend. Professor Giliomee, after the presentation of the Habitat Award to the Society during the show, offered our website team access to his book on South African insects for use on our Fernkloof website www.fernkloof.com. Our Herbarium team did well to name wetland specimens brought in by Vogelgat staffers, Giorgio and Candice - hardly one with a flower on it to assist in identification! If weekend walkers were worried about a young man wielding a spearlike implement which he periodically thrust into the fynbos above the Visitors' Centre, rest assured. He is a UWC research student who is busy making ant traps in order to find out the reason for the spread of Leucospermum cordifolium seed. My personal thanks go to Bob Hill for almost single-handedly clearing the Klipspringer area of port jackson, myrtle and pines. The job was made a hundred times more difficult because previous mismanaged hack attempts had result in resprouting on a massive scale. His other hack projects at present are follow-ups on the Flat Street wetlands (where a multitude of wild flowers are blooming) , the 711 commonage and Mossel River, also flower-laden. To meet Bob and to join in the challenge, contact him on 028-3121463. There is a hack meet every third Tuesday of the month - hard work but fun.

IN MEMORIAM - AT RABIE Adriaan Louw Rabie (At) gebore 6 Oktober l929 te Riethuiskraal naby Riversdal, is op 8 Junie 2003 te Hermanus in die ouderdom van 73 na 'n stryd met kanker oorlede. At kwalifiseer as siviele ingenieur aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch en dien as sulks vir die grootste deel van sy loopbaan in verskillende afdelinge van die Departement van Waterwese se hoofkantoor in Pretoria. Hy was veral trots op sy aktiewe betrokkenheid en aandeel in die Theewaterskloof se beplanning. Na aftrede, vertrek At en Annette in 1990 na Hermanus waar sy broer, die skrywer Jan Rabie, hom o.a. ook bevind. In 1995 versoek Jose Burman hom om die stapgroep en naweekuitstappies van die Hermanus Botaniese Vereniging oor te neem. Van 1995 tot 2001 dien hy dan ook op die komitee. Talle nuwe roetes is gestap en nuwe gebiede besoek. Kenmerke van sy invloed is die gemoedelike en informele aanbieding, die trant van die naweekaande se samesyn, deeglike beplanning en voorsien van inligting, en die gevolglike groei van die stapgroep sodat daar by tye waglyste was vir die gewilde naweekuitstappies. Soveel as 60 persone is soms akkommodeer. Sy kennis van die land en liefde vir die veld en see het hom, en die groep, goed to pas gekom. Hermanus se waterkorte was hom 'n groot bron van kommer. Hy het die staatmaak op boorgate vir munisipale gebruik teengestaan, en het voorsien dat n pypleiding van of Palmiet of Theewaterskloof die langtermyn oplossing sal bied.

 

PROGRAMME

HACKING MEETS :	08:00	September - March
	08:30	April - August

Tuesdays (third of each month) :	November 18
	December 16
	January 20
	February 17

For further information contact Bob Hill

028-3121463

 

OTHER SOCIAL EVENTS :

November 21	20:00	FERNKLOOF: Ingo Schirmer: Gough Island - marine life and geography
December 16	18:00	FERNKLOOF: Chairman's Walk. Bring picnic supper.
January 9	18:00	FERNKLOOF: Annual General Meeting
January 17		DAY WALK:Harold Porter Nature Reserve (disas)
February 17-20		EXCURSION: Swartriet, Jacobsbaai, Saldanha
February 27	18:00	FERNKLOOF: Annual braai

For further information re walks please contact Piet Joubert

tel 028-3140264

Published by Hermanus Botanical Society, PO Box 208, Hermanus 7200 Editor: GERALDINE GARDINER - Fax (028) 3130617