plateau, dotted withscattered rock outcrops,weathered into fantasticdinosaur shapes.We were now at about1100 m - as high asTable Mountain - whenwe reached our desti­nation. Here everythinghas adjusted to avery harsh

KOUE BOKKEVELDSPRING BREAK

Angela Smitheman,a member of the Kogelberg Branch of the

Botanical Society, goes walkabout through theKoue Bokkeveld with a group of

like-minded friends, and her paints.

The first week white arum liliesin September standing happily inwas stormy at every wet ditch and

the Cape; the clouds field. There waswere low and the snow on thelong-awaited rain mountain peaks,poured down; just visible whenit had been a very ; ~~_ the clouds parted.dry winter. Half a -itTi' The road wounddozen of us I"}.. \~~ through theseniors left ~(j t.:\,_ Jl.' valleys and

".... for a few J 0 ~ fl /Yf climbed updays' holiday up the " Q' i\ /.r Michell's PassWest Coast. This . '{fD to Cconjures up visions of r~ ~ ~ whe::e~ecarpets of 1 stopped for aspring • I \~t. . J ~ drippy andwl'ld NIJ1 1"1. I~ fr' ..I eezmg plcmc;flowers and thence up the Gydoan abundance of Pass. The earlydaisies and bulbs, but peach blossoms wereour trip took us inland, showing bravely on thisup into the high high plateau, and wemountains of the Koue saw the first red, orangeBokkeveld and a very and yellow leaved leuca-different kind of dendrons, which arevegetation. found here.

At the coast every- On to the dirt road,thing was lush: green mercifully bone dry, andgrowth, deeply spotted ' finally up the Katbakkieswith great clumps of Pass to a yet higher

Of·~'\''''"e

t5'~OPQSS

~ 1\1&•.\ ........~t

Ii ~i<~'; ~a~..P

f,J "":.c...s!e,,

24

peoples, who have leftmany examples of theirpaintings for us toappreciate.

On our return, a fewwarmer days had meltedall the snow, and springhad truly reached theCape. There were indeedcarpets of many­coloured flowers to beadmired in theWorcester, Tulbagh andMalmesbury valleys.Reluctantly, we returnedto the Big Smoke.Polluting fumes hungheavily over the CapePeninsula. We, too,

have to adjust toa harsh new

environ­ment.®

25

Many plantsgrow symbioti­cally, incompany witheach other,giving each othermutual support.This oftenmeans theusing ofshade andmoisture, asin the case ofthe gazaniasclustering in andround the bases ofthe bigger plants likethis Lobostemon (below).There were alsomany pink, parasiticHyobanche just breakingthrough the surface ofthe sand, always on thenorthern side of thebushes. Lichens prolif­erated on all the rocks,each spreading in acircular form in a richvariety of colours, givinga special colour andtexture to the fantasticrock formations. Many ofthese have formedshelters, and, over themillennia, have beenused by theSan

A close look a teachplant made one realisethat here are many oldfriends of the gentlersouth-western Capeclimate, adapted tothis place. Manyhad much­reduced leaves(as in the case ofskilpadbessie,Nylandtia spinosa,where they werescarcely visible knobs).Some were leathery,

some packedclosely around

the stem, andsome just plainsparse andsmall, as theGnidia,Lobostemon,

Leucadendronand Hermannia

demonstrate.

red-gold sandbetween thebushes was, infact, a mass of

vygies (depictedbelow) and daisies,as they opened onlyafter one o'clock, allfacing resolutely intothe sun, to where theCederberg's Tafelbergdominated thenorthern horizon.

A wildlife visitorwas a large tapping

beetle (toktokkie,Psammodes), tappingaway and perhapssignalling to a girl friendthat spring had sprungafter all.

,I ,, \-

"-, ..

climate, extremes oftemperature, winds andconstant exposure.

In the early morningthere was a crust of froston the lee side of everybush and, as an icing, onour cars. As the daywarmed up we crawledlike lizards into thesun and out of theicy wind. Walkingthrough the bushrevealed a wealthof plants, all strug-gling into blossom intheir own way. The veldwas starred with whitebunches of flowers of thewild rosemary Erioce­phalus africanus, thebruised leaves of which,together with theagosthosmas, create thenostalgic scentassociated withmountain rambling and,they say, give theinimitable flavour toKaroo lamb.

Not until lunch timedid we realise that the