One can find beauty even in the driest periods and a particularly beautiful evergreen shrub blooming in the veld at the moment is the Wild Pomegranate (Burchellia bubalina), which belongs to a part of the coffee family called Rubiaceae. These shrubs are found in forested habitats, as well as in montane grassland and scrub. This one is growing on a rocky outcrop on top of the Rietberg. Note the way the short main stem is twisted and multi-stemmed.
The bright orange to red flowers appear from early spring to mid-summer.
The copious nectar in these flowers attracts birds, butterflies and other insects.
The tree was named after W.J. Burchell (1782-1863), an early English explorer, naturalist and artist who worked at Kew Gardens. During his travels in South Africa in 1810 he is said to have collected about 50 000 specimens which he took back to the UK. Bubalina means buff-coloured in Latin which is possibly a reference to the yellowish hairs found on the young stems. The Afrikaans name for this shrub, Buffelshoring, refers to the buffalo-like horns of the old calyx lobes on the fruit.
Other interesting information can be read at:
Something Over Tea 
Wow..beautiful..
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The blossoms stand out, especially in the early morning or late afternoon light.
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Ek probeer ook nou veldblomme leer ken.Gister in grasveld rondgeloop met my boekie, maar dis maar moeilik! Dankie vir hierdie een, Anne.
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Ja, dit neem ‘n lang tyd om ons veldblomme te leer ken, maar dit is die moeite werd.
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Interesting and lovely!
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We don’t find large stands of these shrubs together, so their pretty blossoms make them stand out among the grass and other trees.
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Another of my favourite plants 🙂
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I like them too and call a halt whenever I see on on our travels.
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