December 8, 2012
LASI V: Biological Interlude #1
Posted by Evelyn Mervine
So, I’ve been meaning to put up another LASI V post or two, but I’ve been extremely busy with my day job over the past few weeks. I hope to have another substantive LASI V post up soon, but in the meantime here’s a lovely biological interlude post that contains pictures of some vegetation which I observed during the LASI V field trip to South Africa’s Karoo. As I geologist, I generally dislike vegetation since it covers up all the pretty rocks. Sometimes, though, vegetation is pretty enough that I don’t mind it too much. If any botanists read this post and know about the vegetation in the pictures, please enlighten us geologists!
Observed on Day #1 of the LASI V Field Trip:
A lovely cactus of some sort.
Pretty pink biology thingies.
A closer view of one of the pretty pink biology thingies.
Observed on Day #2 of the LASI V Field Trip:
Another cactus... with some sills in the background!
Very interesting vegetation growing on a rock.
A closer view of the rock-covering vegetation, with a 2 Rand coin for scale (about the size of an American nickel).
Observed on Day #3 of the LASI V Field Trip:
Trees and some grass on a farm in the Karoo.
A closer view of the grass.
Pretty purple flowers.
Yellow flowers... and some rocks in the background.
A spiky cactus. Don't want to step on this one!
The view from the top of a place called "Witkop 3". I'll be writing all about Witkop 3, so stay tuned!
A zoom-in of the view down in the valley below Witkop 3. Flowers and sheep!
Little yellow flowers.
More little yellow flowers.
There was a young woman who used to be an IZ regular with the last name Witkop… I had wondered about its provenance. Had assumed Dutch, but might well be Afrikaans.