1. day - from Worcester to Robertson

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• From Worcester to Robertson

Map - red marks shows the visited area

This was our very first day on the trip. We overnight on a very pleasant guest farm near Patryskloof. The night was a bit chili - may due to the winter time? In the morning we were surprised by fresh snow on the top of surrounding mountains.

• Patryskloof farm, E. Worcester
  

Patryskloof farm

First spot we visited was directly on the farm - we have explored slopes of the hill above the road and found our first Haworthias. It was H. maxima and H. herbacea.

Haworthia maxima, Patryskloof farm

Haworthia maxima, Patryskloof farm

H. maxima is very wide spread and virtually on every "succulent" spot you will find it. It grows on the flat or on the slopes, mostly in the shade of bushes or sometimes exposed on full sun.

Haworthia herbacea, Patryskloof farm

H. herbacea wasn´t much common here, it was very cryptic under the small bushes, quite well hidden.

Euphorbia sp., Patryskloof farm

Conophytum sp, Crassula sp., Patryskloof farm

Adromischus sp., Patryskloof farm

• near Nonna

near Nonna

Next stop was near the farm Nonna. On a very "succulent rich" spot we found H. maxima, H. reticulata, H. arachnoidea and G. retusa.

H. arachnoidea, near Nonna

H. arachnoidea, near Nonna

G. retusa, near Nonna

H. maxima was present on flat area near the road. On the hillside was H. arachnoidea growing - quite well hidden, but when you find first plant, you see easily the others. Nearby on the rocks was growing also our first Gasteria - it was G. retusa (previously G. carinata var. retusa). It small and clump forming species with very rough leaves.

H. maxima, near Nonna

H. maxima, near Nonna

We found also two different forms of H. reticulata. First one was a robust "classic" form, growing in large clusters. Second one, about 300 m further on, was much smaller, with small teeth on the leaves - to me it looks like an intermediate form of H. herbacea and H. reticulata.

H. reticulata, near Nonna

H. reticulata, near Nonna

Adromischus sp., near Nonna

Oxalis sp., Euphorbia sp., near Nonna

• near Bellevue

near Bellevue

Next stop was to search for H. arachnoidea. We found it after quite difficult climb through thorny bushes and slippery hill. There was also G. retusa and H. reticulata present. This locality was different from previous ones because of steep hillside.

H. arachnoidea, near Bellevue

H. arachnoidea, near Bellevue

H. reticulata, near Bellevue

G. retusa, near Bellevue

Aloe sp., near Bellevue

bulb sp., near Bellevue

• near Brandvlei Dam, S. Worcester

near Brandvlei Dam

One of my targets of the trip was to see H. maculata in the wild. We have found near the yacht club at Brandvlei Dam. H. maculata is growing very cryptic, very often only leave tips are visible above the ground.

H. maculata, near Brandvlei Dam

H. maculata, near Brandvlei Dam

At the foot of the hill we found H. maxima too - this was the largest form I have seen - some of the plants were in size of soccer ball (around 30 cm in diameter). Nice Bulbine mesembryanthemoides was present also there.

H. maxima, near Brandvlei Dam

H. maxima, near Brandvlei Dam

Bulbine mesembryanthemoides, near Brandvlei Dam

• Sanberg

H. pubescens, Sandberg II.

And the best on the end of the day - we have visited the locality of very rare plant - H. pubescens. After a long search I found it on the top of the hill on a small rock. We found about 25 plants. It is a tricky and not easy plant in cultivation.

H. pubescens, Sandberg II.

H. pubescens, Sandberg II.

On the same locality is quite common H. herbacea. After visiting Sandberg we drove to the next guest farm S. Robertson, where we overnight.

H. herbacea, Sandberg

H. herbacea, Sandberg

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