Conicosia pugioniformis subsp. pugioniformis, varkslaai

The thin-petalled pale yellow flowers of Conicosia pugioniformis subsp. pugioniformis are well represented in this beach pageant of west coast spring flowers. Several annual daisy plants have joined in the festivities, adding their colours.

The bare lower stems of the perennial Conicosia plant, red in colour and lying on the sand, share space magnanimously for all to enjoy the sunlight. Once the robust grasses and taller shrubs also commonly growing in these parts take over the land, these low-growing and short-lived types have to bide their time for another heyday in the future cycles of time-shared land occupation.

For land tenure among the living is always temporary, operating on an inexorable time-sharing basis, irrespective of the duration of any share or the sense of security afforded by papers in any Deeds Office. Permanence in life is but the illusion of longevity that comes to those short in understanding.