– Tim Attwell

Botsoc Walk 17 September 2016

Rod’s Trail, named after Rod Smitheman, architect, conservationist and former mayor of Betty’s Bay, is a gem sometimes overlooked simply because it’s in our back yard.

The trail follows a two and half kilometre contour along the front of Voorberg above Betty’s Bay. As a showcase for Kogelberg Sandstone Fynbos, Rod’s Trail has no equal, especially in spring.

A dozen or so members’ and guests’ faith that the drizzle would clear and the sun come out was rewarded with increasingly sparkling sunshine. Only the botanically obsessed would take three hours to cover a route that would take any other hiker forty minutes. But that’s the fault of the bewildering variety of flora on display on a moist September morning.

Stands of coniferous Widdringtonia nodiflora trees defy the rule that they confine themselves to higher altitudes and flourish at the start of the trail. Tough and quirky Iron martin trees, Laurophyllus capensis, line the drainage lines and then we are out of the trees and onto the higher slope where fluffy pink Kleinmond spiderhead, Serruria adscendens, rules. It’s still too early in the wet morning to get a headfull of their sweet fragrance which scents the mountainside when the sun is high.

Overberg pincushion, Leucospermum oleifolium, is in profusion, diminutive yellow and red pincushions clustered three to a stem tip. Southern double collared sunbirds are having a field day. Common pagoda, Mimetes cucullatus, are showing fresh red growth and in full bloom while extravagant billows of white Erica sitiens and washes of minute pink Erica nudiflora have replaced the larger and now wilting Erica coccinea and the stately Erica fascicularis. Pretty white-pink China flowers, Adenandra uniflora, with their surprisingly red buds and perfectly proportioned five petalled flowers never fail to stop the party. Their buchu fragrance adds to their charm.

‘What is that?’ comes the startled query. A sturdy protea like shrub stands above surrounding Serruria adscendens and Erica sitiens, displaying fluffy, silvery cream flowerheads. It’s like no protea anyone has seen before. It’s the not-often-seen, near threatened and grandly named Paranomus sceptrum-gustavianus. Its English common name is a take-off from the scientific specific name and just as grand: ‘King Gustav’s Sceptre’.

The specific name, sceptrum-gustavianus, was the 18th century Swedish botanist Andrew Sparrman’s tribute to his recently crowned King Gustav III while its generic name, Paranomus, was the idea of 18th century British botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury. Para, in classical Greek, means, among other things, ‘outside’, ‘beside’ or occasionally ‘contrary to’, and Nomus is a latinisation of the classical Greek word for ‘law’ or ‘custom’. Hence ‘Paranomus’ literally means ‘outside’ or ‘contrary to law or custom’. So here’s the thing: Plants of the genus Paranomus perversely have two leaf forms on each plant. The lower leaves are divided into narrow needle like segments while the upper leaves are simple, paddle shaped or oval, like many other ‘normal’ members of the family Proteaceae. Very weird, go figure.

Yes, we did stop for refreshments at a spot where there were sufficient comfortable rocks to sit on and a stunning view across the coastal plain and out to sea. We also made it home in time for a bit of Saturday shopping and lunch.