Anacampseros telephiastrum leaves

These inviting leaves of Anacampseros telephiastrum should attract regular leaf-eaters and some others in need of a meal. The cautious ones would consider taste and toxicity (if they had a hint of such a thing from smell, appearance, peer behaviour or survived accident).

While nibbling something conventional, many might observe pioneer behaviour… watchfulness being such a key feature of animal survival in the wild. Once having learnt from the example of bold pioneers, there might be little holding back. Consider how animals learn what to avoid, especially in diverse veld.

A give-away is found in an Afrikaans common name of groothaaskos (big hare food… not divulging whether the name refers to the size of the hare or the status of the food item in its diet). The little plants hide under shrubs of their semi-arid habitat, the same place where hares also spend the day, hiding from the sun and other hunters, not necessarily from the east.

Whatever hares consider a balanced diet, these plants still hold out well in nature: In species survival terms A. telephiastrum is considered to be of least concern early in the twenty first century.

Dry leftovers of an inflorescence are visible from last summer’s blooming. The time of the photo is August when leaves should be lush after the winter rain and new flowers are still to come. The place is Little Karoo scrubland near Oudtshoorn (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).