Tanqua Karoo
Semi-arid and arid desert east of the Cedarberg Mountains. It is famous not only for its highly endemic flora but also is the locality of the outrageously outlandish Afrika Burn festival that takes place at Tankwa Town every May. The flowering period is typically brief and is often early relative to the rest of the Western Cape, typically peaking in August. In summer it is blisteringly hot with dust-devils raking the molten metamorphic rock covering portions of the Tanqua basin. Much of the Tanqua is used for grazing though there are increasing numbers of reserves including the Tanqua Karoo National Park that provide some measure of protection. The border between the Northern and Western Cape cuts through the Tanqua Karoo. Perhaps the best known of the plants is the Hoodia (Ngaap) that occurs naturally in the area and has been exploited as an appetite suppressant. Sceletium is a plant imbibed or sniffed for its energising and euphoric properties. Some creatures unique to the Tanqua include the terrifying Stofadil that terrorizes tourists to the area and has a particular prediliction for car tyres.
Nodes
Microloma
Zaluzianskya
Heliophila carnosa
Tylecodon faucium
Crassula lasiantha
Tylecodon faucium
Antimima pumila
Tanquana prismatica
Phyllobolus
Pages
Taxonomy term
Hemimeris
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. hemi- = half; meros = a part or fragment; referring to the flower that is cut away on one side, that is, lacking a spur.
Hermannia cuneifolia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the Latin cuneus = 'wedge' and folius = 'leaf'; referring to the shape of the leaf with a narrow base and wide apex
Roughly scaly, twiggy shrub to 1 m. Leaves cuneate, coarsely toothed above, sometimes appearing fascicled. Flowers on subsecund racemes, yellow often fading reddish. Mainly Aug.--Oct. Clay and granitic slopes, NW, SW, KM, AP, LB, SE (Namaqualand to E Cape and Lesotho).
Hesperantha
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. hesperos = evening; anthos = flower. Many flowers open late in the day, toward evening, Afrikaans aandblom = evening bloom/flower.
Hesperantha
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. hesperos = evening; anthos = flower. Many flowers open late in the day, toward evening, Afrikaans aandblom = evening bloom/flower.
Hesperantha
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. hesperos = evening; anthos = flower. Many flowers open late in the day, toward evening, Afrikaans aandblom = evening bloom/flower.
Hesperantha
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. hesperos = evening; anthos = flower. Many flowers open late in the day, toward evening, Afrikaans aandblom = evening bloom/flower.
Hessea
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Christian Henrich Friedrich Hesse (1772– 1837), German Lutheran minister, scholar and naturalist who came to Cape Town in 1800 before returning to Germany in 1817. Hesse extended his hospitality to many naturalists visiting the Cape such as Martin Heinrich Karl Lichtenstein, William John Burchell, Dugald Carmichael, Carl Bergius and others and was friends with Peter Heinrich Poleman and an apothecary and active collector of plants who was a partner in the firm Pallas & Poleman, which sent consignments of seeds, bulbs and plants back to Europe. The website Amaryllidaceae.org says Hessea was named after Paul Hesse (1837), but no supportive evidence for this could be found.
Hessea
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Christian Henrich Friedrich Hesse (1772– 1837), German Lutheran minister, scholar and naturalist who came to Cape Town in 1800 before returning to Germany in 1817. Hesse extended his hospitality to many naturalists visiting the Cape such as Martin Heinrich Karl Lichtenstein, William John Burchell, Dugald Carmichael, Carl Bergius and others and was friends with Peter Heinrich Poleman and an apothecary and active collector of plants who was a partner in the firm Pallas & Poleman, which sent consignments of seeds, bulbs and plants back to Europe. The website Amaryllidaceae.org says Hessea was named after Paul Hesse (1837), but no supportive evidence for this could be found.
Hyobanche
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Gk. hys = swine; anchein = strangle. This parasitic plant eventually ‘strangles’ its prey.
Ixia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
Ancient Gk. Ixia = a Linnaeus-derived name for a plant noted for the variability of its flower colour or Gk. ixos = mistletoe (viscum), birdlime; referring to the viscous sap (WPU Jackson).
Lachenalia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Werner de Lachenal (1736–1800), Swiss professor of botany and anatomy at the University of Basel from 1776, eminent for his knowledge of European plants. He obtained his PhD in 1763. He was a pupil of Haller, who was one of his main correspondents, providing him with details of flora and their location around Basel, the Jura mountains, Alsat and Bruntrutain. He was a friend of Linnaeus. He authored several monographs in Acta Helvetica. While at the university he substantially improved its botanical garden, the oldest in Switzerland, that had fallen into disrepair. He continually strived to obtain funds to reconstruct and develop the garden and to pay for its gardener. He opened the garden to the public to cover expenditures.
Lachenalia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Werner de Lachenal (1736–1800), Swiss professor of botany and anatomy at the University of Basel from 1776, eminent for his knowledge of European plants. He obtained his PhD in 1763. He was a pupil of Haller, who was one of his main correspondents, providing him with details of flora and their location around Basel, the Jura mountains, Alsat and Bruntrutain. He was a friend of Linnaeus. He authored several monographs in Acta Helvetica. While at the university he substantially improved its botanical garden, the oldest in Switzerland, that had fallen into disrepair. He continually strived to obtain funds to reconstruct and develop the garden and to pay for its gardener. He opened the garden to the public to cover expenditures.
Lachenalia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Werner de Lachenal (1736–1800), Swiss professor of botany and anatomy at the University of Basel from 1776, eminent for his knowledge of European plants. He obtained his PhD in 1763. He was a pupil of Haller, who was one of his main correspondents, providing him with details of flora and their location around Basel, the Jura mountains, Alsat and Bruntrutain. He was a friend of Linnaeus. He authored several monographs in Acta Helvetica. While at the university he substantially improved its botanical garden, the oldest in Switzerland, that had fallen into disrepair. He continually strived to obtain funds to reconstruct and develop the garden and to pay for its gardener. He opened the garden to the public to cover expenditures.
Lachenalia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Werner de Lachenal (1736–1800), Swiss professor of botany and anatomy at the University of Basel from 1776, eminent for his knowledge of European plants. He obtained his PhD in 1763. He was a pupil of Haller, who was one of his main correspondents, providing him with details of flora and their location around Basel, the Jura mountains, Alsat and Bruntrutain. He was a friend of Linnaeus. He authored several monographs in Acta Helvetica. While at the university he substantially improved its botanical garden, the oldest in Switzerland, that had fallen into disrepair. He continually strived to obtain funds to reconstruct and develop the garden and to pay for its gardener. He opened the garden to the public to cover expenditures.
Lachenalia
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
For Werner de Lachenal (1736–1800), Swiss professor of botany and anatomy at the University of Basel from 1776, eminent for his knowledge of European plants. He obtained his PhD in 1763. He was a pupil of Haller, who was one of his main correspondents, providing him with details of flora and their location around Basel, the Jura mountains, Alsat and Bruntrutain. He was a friend of Linnaeus. He authored several monographs in Acta Helvetica. While at the university he substantially improved its botanical garden, the oldest in Switzerland, that had fallen into disrepair. He continually strived to obtain funds to reconstruct and develop the garden and to pay for its gardener. He opened the garden to the public to cover expenditures.