So it is no secret I am a big fan of the following plant family, Erica’s, and this week is a really rare flower we are focusing on.

First, I think it is best to let you all know how special the genus Erica is…this from Dolf Schumann and Gerhard Kirsten, from their amazing book, Ericas of South Africa:

For sheer diversity the genus Erica is the most outstanding of all the many genera that make up the fynbos biome in the south-western and southern corner of South Africa.  It numbers some 650 species, many of which are quite exquisite in the shape, colouring and delicacy of their flowers. Some are very rare, and others are on the point of extinction.

And some stats for you:

Outside of this country- only 76 species occur naturally.   South Africa has well over 650!

Onto the specific Erica of this week.  The Erica lerouxiae.

This plant is named after Miss E. le Roux, who brought the species to the attention of Harry Bolus in 1887.

This very pretty species seems to be confined to the western part of the Franschhoek valley where, at altitudes between 400 and 700 m above sea level, it grows on steep slopes in or near streams. It flowers in August and September.
To put that into perspective, here are the spots where Marc from next door says they are on Boekenhoutskloof, and where I have found plants on the mountain..

Discovered on Boekenhoutskloof, and endemic to Scherpheuwelberg, which is the mountain behind both properties, it occurs naturally nowhere else.   That is quite a scary prospect realizing that we are the custodians of a species which; if we bugger it up, doesn’t exist anymore.   Constant source of inspiration for us to get up into the berge and chop out all that alien muck on a regular basis.    Which makes this following shot from the fire two years ago even more scary…. 

I remember when I first moved into the valley permanently, and I really struggled to find this particular Erica up in the mountain.  Now it seems to be doing very well as a species, the indicator I use is that whenever I am out on a Fynbos Walk, these days, I seem to find a new plant.  It is high time I did some proper recording and dating of said individuals….

On a sadder note, with the recent injury to Dr Paul Cluver, and all the damage to fynbos the Overberg has experienced from their recent fire, here is an exert from Pendock Uncorked:   ‘Some species which were thought to be extinct have only recently been rediscovered in our mountain fynbos – in particular the Erica patens. We hope we have not lost this rare flora’, said Paul Clüver IV.”

It fills me with such pride to be part of an industry so committed to the preservation of the countries Fynbos.  If you want to make a difference, please download the BWI wine list here.

And finally, a smattering of poetry, this is from the opening of the book that got me hooked onto this amazing little fynbos wonder:

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower- but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is

The voice and the Peak

Alfred Lord Tennyson