Heliophila arenaria

This blue-flowering sporrie was seen in the Biedouw Valley during September. It is thought to be Heliophila arenaria, but that is not certain; no suitable full plant or leaf pictures were obtained.

H. arenaria is an erect or sprawling annual reaching 50 cm in height. The plant has narrow, sometimes lobed and hairy leaves. It bears blue flowers with white centres, the flower up to 15 mm in diameter. Flowering time is from midwinter to early spring, the photo taken in September. The fruit is a thread-like or beaded siliqua, a fruit form occurring in the Brassicaceae family.

There are four varieties of H. arenaria, all of them found in the Western Cape. Some also grow in the Northern Cape, while var. acocksii is common in the Biedouw Valley and maybe the one in the photo.

The habitat is sandy flats and slopes, the plants sometimes forming large stands on open ground. Three of the varieties, including var. acocksii, are unthreatened in their habitats early in the twentieth century.

The status of the fourth one is unknown due to lacking plant data. This less known variety is ironically called H. arenaria var. agtertuinensis. It grows near Clanwilliam in the Olifants River Valley, not far from the Biedouw Valley. Agtertuin means back garden in Afrikaans, a place one might expect would be better known than the rest (Le Roux, et al, 2005; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).