
Tienie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve
Tienie Versveld Reserve lies just outside Darling en route to Yzerfontein, part of a farm that was donated to the National Botanical Society of South Africa by none other than a Marthinus Versveld (known locally, obviously, as Oom Tienie).
The Tienie Versveld Reserve is an incredibly pretty reserve of 20 hectares that because it has never been ploughed gives rise to a plethora of Sandveld flowers during the annual flower show. Although open throughout the year to those who frequent Darling, it is for the bulbs that the Tienie Versveld is most well known, and during the flower season it is extremely popular as a result. Look out for the graves of Marthinus and his wife Beatrice (known as Baby). Interestingly Marthinus's sister, Muriel, was one of the founding members of the Darling Wildflower Association. It isn't the only flower reserve in Darling. During September there is an annual exodus to the little not-quite-seaside West Coast town where flowers have been the focus since 1917. The West Coast flower region gives rise to no fewer than 1200 different flowering plant species, 80 of which are endemic to the West Coast and found nowhere else. That so many flowers are found here in the Tienie Versveld Reserve is largely due to a mix of different veld types – Sandveld, Strandveld, Renosterveld and Rietveld produce an incredible array of, particularly, bulbous plants rich in diversity and range of size and colour. More than 10% of the Cape Floral Kingdom occurs in less than 1% of the area in Darling. Whilst visiting the Tienie Versveld Reserve, also visit the Darling Renosterveld Reserve, the Groenekloof Renosterveld Reserve and the Waylands Flower Reserve.
Information taken from: https://www.sa-venues.com/game-reserves/wc_tienie-versveld.htm
Nodes


Cyphia bulbosa

Babiana ambigua

Pelargonium myrrhifolium

Senecio elegans

Hebenstretia

Babiana angustifolia

Pelargonium myrrhifolium

Spiloxene canaliculata

Dorotheanthus bellidiformis
Taxonomy term
Cyphia bulbosa
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From the Latin bulbosa = 'having bulbs'
Dorotheanthus bellidiformis
(Bokbaaivygie){"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the Latin ‘bellidi’ / ‘bellis’ meaning ‘a daisy genus’; and the Latin ‘formis’ / ‘formis’ meaning ‘in the form of’.
Hebenstretia
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For Johann Christian Hebenstreit (1720–1791), German physician and botanist. He studied medicine at the University of Leipzig from 1740–1748 and practised in Naumburg before becoming professor of botany and natural history at the Russian Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg. In 1751 he became a personal physician to Count Kyrylo Rosumowskyj, the president of the academy, for two years and was stationed in the Ukraine before returning to Leipzig. In 1755 he accepted the position of professor of botany and natural history in St Petersburg, but deteriorating health forced him to return to Leipzig in 1961. Little is known of his life thereafter.
Lachenalia orchioides
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From the Latin ‘orchi’ / ‘orchis’ meaning ‘orchid’; and the Greek ‘oides’ / ‘oides’ meaning ‘in the form of’.
Pelargonium myrrhifolium
{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[]}
From the Greek ‘myrrhi’ / ‘myrrhis’ meaning ‘myrrh’; and the Latin ‘folium’ / ‘folium’ meaning ‘leaf’.
Tenicroa
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Gk. taenia = tape, ribbon; croa = unknown. An apparently meaningless word, which was Rafinesque’s penchant.
