Spring is Coming to the Cape

The wildflowers are starting to bloom

The Rain Daisy (Dimorphotheca pluvialis) is one of the more common spring flowers in lowland fynbos vegetation. Photo ©Zoë Chapman Poulsen.

The southern hemisphere spring is on its way to the Cape. Although Spring Day isn’t officially until 1 September, the plants in the fynbos, renosterveld and strandveld around Cape Town don’t know that and are starting to come into bloom for the spring flowering season.

After the cold of winter with snow on the mountains, the weather is starting to warm up during the day and the African sun feels warmer. There is still a chill in the air, but less so than on the bitterly cold winter nights.

Water droplets sitting on the leaves and flower of a Lachenalia in bloom. Photo ©Zoë Chapman Poulsen.

As the spring weather improves the botanists start to emerge, ready to begin the spring field season.

With South Africa’s Fynbos Biome being one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, most groups of plant species (known as a genus) have many different species that when not in flower can look very similar without the help of a microscope for identification.

The tiny delicate yellow flowers of the Clove Tearbush (Lyperia lychniea). Photo ©Zoë Chapman Poulsen.