Meiringspoort
The towering sandstone cliff walls and breathtaking rock formations of Meiringspoort lie on the N12 between Beaufort West and Oudtshoorn. The poort follows the natural gorge hewn by the Groot Rivier (big river) through the Swartberg range connecting, on either end, the towns of Klaarstroom and De Rust, or the Groot and Klein Karoo respectively. It is famous for its waterfall
Nodes
Testudinidae
Athanasia vestita
Salvia
Hermannia
Felicia
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Pelargonium tetragonum
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Pages
Taxonomy term
Oxalis
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From the Greek oxys = sharp, sour or acid and (h)als = salt. The plant is frequently consumed for its sour taste caused by the oxalic acid, particularly the flowering stalks of O. pes-caprae. In large quantities the oxalic acid inhibits digestion and in stock leads to the condition 'dikpens' or bloated belly.
Pelargonium
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Gk. pelargos = a stork; referring to the beak of the fruit which resembles a stork’s bill (cf Geranium, Erodium).
Phylica
(The Featherheads){"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. phyllikos = leafy; referring to the plentiful foliage.
Phylica axillaris
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From the Latin ‘axillaris’ / ‘axillaris’ meaning ‘relating to the stem’
Pteronia
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Gk. pteron = a wing; probably referring to seeds which are wind-dispersed.
Salvia
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La. salvia = the sage plant; a name used by Pliny the Elder, from La. salvere = to heal; referring to the medicinal properties claimed for some species.
Sceletium
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Gk. skeletos = dried up, withered; referring to the foliage that dies back after flowering to leave skeletonised remains.
Schotia
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For Richard van der Schot (c 1730–1790), Dutch gardener who studied in Leiden. He became head gardener of the Imperial Gardens at Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria, having been appointed by the French botanist Nicolaus (Nicolaas) Joseph von Jacquin (1727–1817). In 1755, Jacquin was asked by the Emperor Franz Ferdinand (Emperor Francis I) to lead an expedition to the Caribbean to collect tropical plants and other ‘curiosities’ for the palace’s natural history collections. Van der Schot joined Jacquin on this four-year journey, visiting Grenada, Saint Vincent, Aruba, Cuba and Curacao, and returned to Vienna in 1759. Although some sources state Van der Schot visited South Africa between 1785 and 1788, just two years before his death, he did not, both according to our research and confirmed in a 1970 Taxon paper Jacquin Names, Some Notes on Their Typification, by WG D’Arcy.
SCROPHULARIACEAE
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Scrophularia was derived from scrophula (scrofula) and was used in its treatment, because of the similarity between the roots of some species and tuberculous swellings.
Searsia
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For Paul Bigelow Sears (1891–1990), US plant ecologist, professor of botany at Oberlin College (1938–1950), chair of the conservation programme and Yale University (1950–1960), and author of many books, including Deserts on the March (1935), his most popular book explaining ecological principles to the general public. During the 1920s and 1930s, he pioneered ‘palynology’, the study of fossil pollen as a cue to past vegetation and climate. He was president of the Ecological Society of America (1948), the American Association of Science (1956), and the American Society of Naturalists (1959), among others, and named an eminent ecologist by the Ecological Society of America (1965).
Senecio
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La. senex = an old man. The white, hairy pappus of the seeds is reminiscent of an old man’s beard.
Silene
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Gk. Silenos = a Greek woodland deity, half man, half horse or goat, companion of Dionysius, always portrayed as old, bald and bearded, and usually covered with foam or slaver; referring to the sticky secretion of the stems that entrap small insects, thus foiling predators. ‘Catchfly.’
Solanum mauritianum
(Bugweed){"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the Latin Mauritanica / Mauritania the country in northwest Africa which is now Algeria and Morocco, and from where the 'moors' came from
Stachys
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Gk. for a spike (originally ear of wheat); referring to the inflorescence that is often a spike.