Mitrophyllum mitratum, a langbeenslapblaarvygie

Mitrophyllum mitratum is adapted to life in arid conditions. More dependent for growth on winter fog from the west coast than rain, the plant produces two dissimilar leaf-pairs per stem-tip during the colder, (slightly) wetter season.

The spreading, channelled, lower leaf-pair holds on top of it the cylindrical stem-part forming the base of the upper leaf-pair. This cylindrical part will next year become the woody stem-growth when two more leaf-pairs will appear from the stem-tip, weather permitting. The Afrikaans common name, langbeenslapblaarvygie (long leg limp leaf mesemb), is somewhat descriptive.

The extremely hot summer halts growth proceedings in a period of dormancy, the leaf-skin drying out to shield new, surviving parts and reflecting some heat. When the long, thirsty, seasonal wait is over, autumn delivers temperature and moisture respite.

This event activates the plant’s DNA into the miraculous annual repeat performance characterising the life of the species. Culmination of the annual life cycle in flower, fruit and seed is what the particular adaptation has achieved.

Will global warming allow this desert plant to continue? Further adaptation in the form of selective specimen survival until the setting of seed may happen, redefining the species in terms of a still tougher selection of plants. This refining in harmony with the environment will allow the species to survive until the day comes that plant tissue cannot stand the heat anymore or the growth season is no longer adequate for leaves and flowers to succeed.

Planting endangered species in controlled conditions has value, more so in public gardens retained beyond single generations of gardeners. Preservation in cultivation is less than species survival in nature but protecting an endangered plant until more conducive conditions return prevents total extinction.

Will such conditions ever return? We know that there are climatic cycles in nature. And some manmade errors bear correction. Hope is a risk that must be run. It’s human nature. It’s the nature of life. People are still part of the fraternity of all the living, however strange and inappropriate that may sound to some.

Remember the days when faith was considered important, protected in secluded monasteries turned into fortresses? Every living thing has a finite survival cycle, energy and adaptation to prevailing challenges determining its duration.

Mitrophyllum plants are popular in cultivation, more readily produced from seed than cuttings (that don’t root easily). Maybe you’ll grow old one day with one on your windowsill, to be passed on to a child or young friend with suitably prepared mindset. Caring does make a difference (Williamson, 2010; Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 1998; Herre, 1971; iNaturalist).