Kirstenbosch is one of Cape Towns most popular tourist attractions. The aim of this cache is to make a visit to Kirstenbosch a little more informative and interesting. I questioned the chief botanist at Kirstenbosch asking, in his opinion, are the 5 most interesting or important plants in the garden. What are the "Big 5" of Kirstenbosch?
If you do the cache you will get to see the plants that he chose.
For information on all aspects of Kirstenbosch, click here.
The Garden is open 365 days a year from 08:00 - 19:00 (September -March) and from 08:00 - 18:00 (April - August). The entrance fee is R32 for adults and R20 for South African students with student ID cards. Fees for school children (6-18 years old) are R5. Children under 6 years old and Botanical Society members have free entry. SA senior citizens have free entry on Tuesdays, if it is not a public holiday.
The cache is not at the listed coordinates, they will take you to the parking lot near the first clue.
Clue 1 - BIG 5 PLANT NUMBER 1
S 33°59.389 E 018°26.029
This tree is far from home! It is the southern most specimen in the world by about 1500km! It reflects a great achievement of the botanists of Kirstenbosch to move a 7 ton tree and to keep it alive and well when so far from its natural habitat. Also called the "upside down tree", what is its other English name?
Answer: The _ _ _ _ _ _ tree.
While in this area of the garden have a look at the Welwitschia mirabilis at S 33°59.382 E 018°26.029. Welwitschia mirabilis plants are unusual for their large, strap like leaves that grow continuously along the ground. They are endemic to Namibian deserts. During its entire life, each plant produces only two leaves, which often split into many segments as a result of the leaves being whipped by the wind. Carbon-14 datings of the largest plants have shown that some individuals are over 1500 years old.
As you walk past look at Mandela's Gold at S 33°59.348 E018°25.988. It is the Flower chosen for the emblem of Kirstenbosch. A fitting honor for a great man.
Clue 2 - BIG 5 PLANT NUMBER 2
S 33°59.374 E 018°25.729
This cycad is one of the rarest plants in the world, being extinct in the wild. The only known wild plants of E. woodii were a cluster of four stems of one plant discovered by a botanist in 1895 in a small area of Ngoya Forest in what is now KwaZulu-Natal. The smaller shoots were cut in 1903. Four years later, another expedition collected the two smaller stems and placed them into botanical gardens. Of the two remaining stems, the larger one died sometime during the period 1907-12. The last stem was removed from the wild in 1916 and sent to Pretoria, where it subsequently died in 1964. All known specimens of this cycad are clones of that only known plant. Despite several surveys, no other plant has ever been located in the wild. For those reasons, the plant is considered extinct in the wild. As a consequence of all known plants being male, it may be said that "Encephalartos woodii hasn't had sex in about a hundred years". Unless a female plant is found, E. woodii will never reproduce naturally. However, the next best thing has been accomplished. This cycad forms fertile hybrids with E. natalensis. If each offspring is subsequently crossed with E. woodii and the process is then repeated, after several generations, the female offspring will be close to what a female Encephalartos woodii. It has a metal cage around it to stop thieves stealing the extremely valuable shoots that grow out from it's base. Despite it being probably the most interesting plant in the garden, it is kept deliberately unobtrusive, for it's own protection.
What is it's English name?
Answer: _ _ _ _'_ Cycad.
Clue 3 - BIG 5 PLANT NUMBER 3
S 33°59.339 E 018°25.575
The only labelled example of this tree I could find was a sapling, but there are many more impressive trees growing nearby. The interest of this tree is that you are standing in about the only place in the world it occurs! In nature it is almost endemic to Table Mountain and particularly to the slopes above Kirstenbosch where it grows in dense stands. The natural distribution of silver trees is restricted to the mountains of the Cape Peninsula, Stellenbosch and Paarl. Put simply, it only grows in sight of Table mountain! There is a school which maintains that it is a Peninsula endemic, and that the populations at Paarl Mountain, Simonsberg and Silverboomkloof (Helderberg) are all planted. However, even today, the vast majority of plants are still confined to Table Mountain. With the single exception of the Rhode's Memorial site on shale, all extant populations are confined to granite deposits on cool southerly slopes. Turn and face the mountain and pick out these trees growing on its slopes and you will be looking at one of the largest populations that exist! Few people realize that the genus Protea, and indeed the family Proteaceae, were originally named after the this tree.
What is the Latin name of this tree?
Answer: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Clue 4 - BIG 5 PLANT NUMBER 4
S 33°59.352 E 018°25.629
This plant is included in the big five for 2 reasons. Firstly it is one of the most impressive and beautiful proteas. Secondly, it is South Africa's national flower. Surprisingly I couldn't find a large specimen, but they are dotted around the garden, so keep an eye out for them. They flower in early Spring, making this the best time to do this cache. They are widely distributed in the Western Cape.
What is the Latin name of this protea?
Answer: Protea _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Clue 5 - BIG 5 PLANT NUMBER 5
S 33°59.324 E 018°25.765
This plant occurred naturally on the Cape flats of the Cape Peninsula. It preferred damp sandy soils such as those found around Wynberg, Kenilworth and Zeekoeivlei. Agriculture and urban development completely wiped out its natural populations and it too is extinct in the wild. Specimens of this plant were last collected from habitat during the late nineteenth and first years of the twentieth century. The latest herbarium record is 1943, from plants grown at Kirstenbosch. We may therefore assume that it became extinct in the wild at the beginning of the twentieth century. Then during the 1980's Deon Kotze, horticulturist at Kirstenbosch, began a concerted search amongst the remnants of lowland fynbos on the Peninsula. His research included making photocopies of herbarium sheets. The Kirstenbosch scholar in 1984, David von Well, recognised the plant from these sheets as being the same as a plant growing at Protea Park in Pretoria. Samples were collected and sent to Ted Oliver at the Compton Herbarium who confirmed it to be the same plant. In the same year another plant was recognised at Kew and material of both brought into cultivation at Kirstenbosch. A few years later Adonis Adonis, a foreman at Kirstenbosch, found a mature plant growing in a clearing in the forest behind the Braille Trail. All these clones have been successfully propagated from cuttings. If you look around in the area of the given coordinates you will see quite a few examples of the plant propagated from the clones. Ted Oliver is in the process of getting material of another specimen that has been grown in one of the gardens of Europe since the mid nineteenth century.
A remarkable story of how dedicated botanists have carefully pulled a species back from the brink of extinction.
What is the name of the this plant (it has no English or common name)?
Answer: _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Now to find the cache you will need the following code:
A = 0 B = 1 C = 7 D = 9
V = 4 W = 2 X = 5 Y = 1
Two of these letters are not used to find the cache
Cache is hidden at:
S 33° 59.(2nd clue, 1st letter) (3rd clue, 4th letter of 1st word) (4th clue,2nd letter of second word)
E 018° 26.(3rd clue, first letter of second word) (5th clue, 1st letter of 2nd word) (1st clue, first letter)