Rondebosch Common
A small 40ha commonage in the Cape Flats of Cape Town. It is home to the critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos vegetation and includes renosterveld vegetation. It is funded by the City of Cape Town and managed by the Friends of Rondebosch Common. It has a long history of usage including as a cricket ground, airfield, military camp during more than one war, and a dumping ground and as a result has a large weedy component that threatens the remnant indigenous species. The largest threat is kikuyu grass though other aliens including pines threaten the flora. A large flock of guineafowl disturb soil and eat precious seeds and bulbs after fire. Other threats including trampling, illegal squatting, flowering picking, eutrification (nutrients) from dog faeces and the polluted water table and nitrification from airborne pollution,
Nodes
Trifolium angustifolium
Gazania pectinata
Felicia tenella
Albuca juncifolia
Heliophila
Crotalaria
Orchidaceae
Untitled
Romulea
Pages
Taxonomy term
Albuca
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La. albus = white or albicans = becoming white; referring to the colouring of some Albuca flowers.
Albuca juncifolia
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From the Latin juncus = 'rush' and folius = 'lleaves'
Asteraceae
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Named after the genus Aster. The name Aster comes from the Ancient Greek word ἀστήρ (astḗr), meaning "star", referring to the shape of the flower head.
Crotalaria
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Gk. krotalos = rattle. The dry seed pods rattle when shaken.
Disa
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Origin obscure. Börge Pettison believes the plant was named after Queen Disa who occurs in a Swedish legendary saga. The author, Peter Jonas Bergius, was a Swedish botanist.
Felicia
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Origin uncertain. La. felix = happy, cheerful, though in the neuter plural form felicia = happy things; possibly a reference to the bright flowers. Other sources vaguely refer to a mysterious German official in Regensburg called Felix who died in 1846 but speculatively and more probably for the Italian Fortunato Bartolomeo de Felice (1723–1789), an Italian scholar established in Yverdon who led the European team that wrote the Yverdon Encyclopedia, published between 1770 and 1780 in 58 quarto volumes. This superseded the Parisian Encyclopedie of Diderot and d’Alembert published between 1751 and 1772.
Felicia tenella
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From the Latin tenellus meaning ‘somewhat tender’
Gazania
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Gk. gaze, gaza = riches, royal treasure; chloe = grass; or possibly after Theodorus Gaza (many spellings of this name) (1398–1478), a Greek scholar who moved to Italy in 1430. He became professor in Greek at the University of Ferrara (1447) and a Greek-Latin translator for Pope Nicholas V (1450–1455). He worked for King Alfonso V of Aragon (Alphonso the Magnanimous) (1456–1458) and subsequently for Cardinal Bessarion. He translated many works including Aristotle’s Problemata, De Partibus Animalium, and De Generatione Animalium and Theophrastus’ Historia Plantarum, works by noted Greek authors, and a Greek grammar (four books). He is regarded as one of the greatest classical scholars and humanists of the Renaissance.
Heliophila
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Gk. (h)elios = sun; philein = to love. The plant likes a sunny position.
Monopsis
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Gk. mono- = one, single; -opsis = resembling; referring to the appearance of the corolla for most species. Every flower looks the same.
Moraea
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Linnaeus married Sara Elisabeth Moraea; her father was Dr. Johan Moraeus, the town physician of Falun. The name "Morea" was originally given by Philip Miller after "Robert More of Shropshire", but was taken over by Linnaeus and changed to Moraea.
ORCHIDACEAE
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From the Greek orchis, testis; referring to the resemblance to the twin pseudo-bulbs of some genera.
Romulea
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For the legendary Romulus, founder and first king of Rome.
Romulea hirsuta
(pienk Froetang){"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the Latin hirsutus = ‘hairy’
Cormous geophyte, 6--10 cm, corms symmetrical, bell-shaped, stem branching above ground. Basal leaves 2, sometimes solitary. Flowers pink to rose or coppery orange with dark marks at edge of yellow cup. Aug.--Sept. Sandstone or clay slopes and flats, NW, SW (Clanwilliam to Elim).