Cousins cohabiting

Karoid veld hides much; may reveal much. Camouflaged among rocks, sand and the detritus of yesterday’s plants (and animals), millions of small plants survive by not being noticed.

The sun finds them and sometimes harms them if they don’t belong to the fortunate class born under some shelter. The scattered Karoo bushes, even the large vygies, do community service by harbouring the young and meek of all races living in this diverse ecology.

In this shady patch members of three genera in the Crassulaceae family can be recognised: the bigger ones bearing long-fingered leaves are Cotyledon orbiculata; the flattish disc-leaved one in the centre is an Adromischus, maybe triflorus and the small rounded dome on the right is Crassula hemisphaerica. Some dead leaves and moss surround them in still life fashion.