Dioscorea hemicrypta seedling

This looks like a new Dioscorea hemicrypta plant. The apparently stand-alone plant emerges from leaf debris on a slope undisturbed by much animal or human traffic. A good place for allowing new plant growth to succeed.

There is a good stand of D. hemicrypta plants in this spot near Oudtshoorn. What goes on underground is, however, unknown. This may be a true seedling, or there may already be a caudex of some size below that had lost its above-ground part through some misfortune.

Yet another possibility: a root from a nearby plant may have reached the ground surface and sprouted leaves. Whether the species does that is unknown.