Forest Poison Rope

Strophanthus speciosus For years, when I walked in mist-belt forest almost daily, I was puzzled by the identity of saplings with shiny, elliptic leaves, that were growing on the forest floor. Eventually, I discovered they were Stophanthus specious – a climber, not actually a tree.   Usually the interesting spidery flowers are spotted fallen in the…

Orange Desmodium

Desmodium repandum Forget the Big Five or the Tallest Tree, it’s the little things in the forest that are really fascinating. Desmodium repandum is found all over Africa and is flowering in the Midlands at the moment. Although the flowers are tiny – less than 15mm – it is hard to miss the bright orange-red…

Samango Monkey

Cercopithecus mitis The Samango monkey  is South Africa’s only exclusively forest dwelling monkey. The endangered subspecies Cercopithecus mitis labiatus occurs in Afromontane forests. These irreplaceable forests, found on moist southern slopes from the Cape to Limpopo, comprise just 0.4 % of South Africa. They are fragmented and vulnerable due to degradation and increased demand for…