Dimorphotheca pluvialis dominating

Late winter and springtime blooming of Dimorphotheca pluvialis may cover west coast plains extensively as in the photo taken at Postberg in the West Coast National Park during August.

These flowers have probably been blooming here from long before the Holocene Age, the second epoch in the Quaternary or Recent period (following the Pleistocene). This period started around 11 650 years ago, after the last glacial retreat.

As for the future, decreases in west coast rainfall and increases in temperature are expected, likely to affect the flowering seasons. We know a little about how much it has changed in the recent past, not all that much of the distant past. Generations to come may know more, if some of the pictures of our era are preserved.

Humanity has not held many grudges against its ancestors up to now, some people even holding forefathers in high esteem. People of our and recent generations may not fare so well in the eyes of their offspring one day.

Think about the legacy our generation is likely to leave: diminished biodiversity in a crippled nature suffering under a violent climate! Future generations may be reduced to a pitiful scramble of recovering a fraction of the Eden-like world we regarded with little care and less respect (Manning, 2007; Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; Wikipedia).