In Operation Wildflower we have space for the citizen who has only the political power of one vote to do something about protecting what he or she loves in nature. You can join us to participate in a legally and sensibly established collection treasure hunt for plants you wish to take home, love and cultivate with care in your own garden. Thus you save them from development destruction! (Now isn’t that a nice and appropriate little oxymoron for our times, don’t you think?)
House boats on Amsterdam canals sporting South African aloes, succulents and geraniums in pots on deck? Yes, there are Dutch citizens with gardens of only half a dozen potted plants living on the water in stationary boats, some of their treasured plants recognized as expatriates from our sunny veldt! And walk along the streets of this and other Dutch cities to see on floor level window sills inside many apartments potted plants soaking up the little sun that comes their way.
The Global Village literature, so full of economic wisdom, says little about the global and regional relationships of plant species in nature. We know about migrating birds and about cross-border national parks where animals may roam a little wider. But plant seeds have also been migrating without human intervention for many millions of years. The distribution areas for some plant species with above average wanderlust have widened greatly along natural distribution channels, with no respect for passport control! Some of these ancient plant migration routes have been cut off by development caused by humanity. Others have been lost due to natural climate changes, continental drift or maybe by some natural phenomenon even more surprising!
There was a big storm in November 2009 on the Gauteng Highveld. Suburban floods usually bring news of traffic disasters and home damage. Calamities caused by big rain and wind in the more rustic, outlying and farming areas are often local news only, although such events are sometimes quite spectacular in their impact and destruction. Here is a story of a huge tree aloe that has adorned a garden for more than twenty years, falling down one stormy night.
Where do garden flowers come from? They were all growing in the wild once, or their ancestors did! Someone started planting them close to a house; or maybe even by a cave entrance? Apart from planting for food, people learnt very long ago to plant trees for shade, hedges for protection and so many plants for medicine against real and imagined diseases.
Glossary of Botanical Terms
abaxial: the side or surface facing away from the stem or axis
achene: a small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a typical Asteraceae flower, developed from an superior ovary and resembling a cypsela but without a surrounded calyx sheath
acicular: needle-shaped
acinaciform: scimitar-shaped
actinomorphic: radially symmetrical, as opposed to zygomorphic or bilaterally symmetrical, pertaining to circular floral shapes
adaxial: the side or surface facing the stem or axis
adnate: fused to an organ of a different kind
adventitious: applied to roots or other plant organs, arising from any point or organ other than the usual system, such as the root system of the plant appearing from above-ground stem nodes; also relate to buds and shoots
anemophilous: wind pollinated as opposed to entomophilous or insect pollinated
angiosperm: seed-bearing plant developing its seeds in an ovary (compare gymnosperm)
anisophyllous: bearing leaves in pairs of two or more shapes and sizes
annulus: a ring-like structure
anthesis: the opening or fully open and functional period of a flower
apical: pertaining to the apex or top
appressed: pressed close to or lying flat against
aril: fleshy seed appendage arising from the seed funicle or stalk
ascending: angled up and outwards from the point of attachment, pertaining to leaves or other plant parts
attenuating: tapering to a gradual, extended tip
awn: a stiff bristle as found on a grass fruit
axil: the angle between a leaf and the stem or surface from which it arises
barbate: bearded
berry: fleshy fruit covered by a soft pericarp; multiple seeds embedded in a pulp
bifid: cleft halfway into two parts
biramous: divided into two branches
bisexual: stamens and pistil both present in the same flower
bract: small leaf-like structure borne below a flower or group of flowers
bracteole: small, secondary bract
bristle: a coarse, erect hair, a stiff trichome
bryology: the science of mosses, liverworts and hornworts
calcareous: chalky, limestone-like, containing or looking like calcium carbonate
calyx: the outer covering of a flower, consisting of free or joined sepals
capsule: dry fruit comprising two or more carpels or cavities that dehisce to release seeds
carnose: fleshy
carpel: a single unit or segment of the female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of an ovary holding ovules, a stigma and usually a style
carunculate: a warty, fleshy, naked outgrowth on a plant on a seed
cataphyll: a reduced scale leaf, bract or bracteole differing from a plant’s true leaves, adapted for other functions than photosynthesis
catkin: a dense, single sex, spike-like flowerhead lacking petals
caudex: underground, persistent stem, usually woody, often thick
caulescent: bearing a leafy stem aboveground
cladode: a flattened stem resembling a leaf
cladophyll: a photosynthetic branch or portion of a stem that resembles and functions as a leaf, a cladode
compound: consisting of several individual units
coppice: to resprout from near the base
corm: underground storage organ formed by a stem, often covered by dry leaf bases; a tuberous rootstock
corolla: the inner flower covering or envelope part of a flower consisting of petals, joined or free, often the most colourful floral part
corymb: a flat-topped raceme in which the individual flower stalks grow obliquely outwards to roughly the same height, the outermost flowers on longer stalks arising at lower levels
cotyledon: the primary leaf of an embryo
culm: the hollow stem of a grass or solid stem of a sedge, mostly solid in restios
cyme: a usually flat-topped or convex flower cluster in which the main axis and each branch end in a flower that opens before the flowers below or to the side of it; an inflorescence in which each floral axis terminates in a single flower
cypsela: a dry one-seeded fruit of a typical Asteraceae flower, developed from an inferior ovary and resembling an achene but surrounded by a calyx sheath
deciduous: leaves falling at the end of each growing season
decumbent: lying flat with the tip curved up
decussate: growing in opposite pairs, such as leaves, succeeding each other at right angles, resulting in four vertical arrays
dehiscent: opening spontaneously when ripe, pertaining to capsules or anthers
deltoid: shaped like an equal-sided triangle
dichasium: a simple cyme; a flowerhead comprising three flowers, the terminal one opening first
dichotomous: forking into equal branches
digitate: divided to a central point, like fingers
dioecious: bearing unisexual flowers, male and female ones on different plants
disc: 1. enlarged receptacle forming part of the calyx or corolla, usually a cushion, ring or cup, sometimes lobed or divided into nectary glands; 2. disc of florets in Asteraceae flowerhead centre
distichous: arranged in two vertical ranks or arrays on opposite sides of a stem; compare decussate
domatia: small depressions or swellings on lower leaf surfaces in the axils between leaf midribs and the main lateral veins comprising hair tufts or small pits
dorsal: the side facing away from the axis, at the back or below
drupe: a fleshy, usually one-seeded fruit that does not dehisce
echinate: bristly or prickly
ecotone: a transitional area of vegetation between two plant communities, such as where a forest and a grassland meet and integrate
elaiosome: fleshy structure attached to the seed of some plants, often rich in oil, attracting animals, particularly ants that disperse the seeds used as food
embryo: the rudimentary plant still enclosed in the seed
ensiform: sword-shaped
entomophilous: insect pollinated; compare anemophilous
ephemeral: short-lived
epicalyx: a ring of small bracts below the main calyx of a flower
epigeal: growing close above the ground, compare hypogeal
epiphyte: a plant growing on another plant without being parasitic
ericoid: leaves similar to Erica plants, narrow and with margins rolled under
exserted: protruding beyond
evanescent: disappearing quickly
falcate: curved like a scythe or sickle; crescent-shaped
family: a group of one or more genera believed to be related phylogenetically, usually separate from other groups
fascicle: a cluster of leaves or flowers emerging at about the same point
floret: small flower, usually of a many-flowered flowerhead or inflorescence
flowerhead: head-like inflorescence consisting of several florets usually densely together, a capitulum
follicle: a fruit formed from a single carpel, usually opening along a suture where the seeds are attached
forb: a non-woody plant other than a herb, grass, sedge or rush
friable soil: malleable, easily crumbled or pulverized soil that easily clumps in the hand unlike overly sandy soil
frond: leaf of a fern, palm or cycad
fruit capsule: a simple, dry, many-seeded, dehiscent fruit developing from a multi-carpellary, syncarpous ovary
frutescent: becoming shrubby or woody
funicle: a stalk connecting an ovule or a seed with the placenta
furcate: forked
geophyte: a herb growing renewed, often annually, from underground buds situated on a perennial organ such as a rhizome, corm or bulb
glabrous: lacking hairs or trichomes
glabrescent: becoming hairless
glaucous: blue-grey or blue-green; covered in a waxy or powdery bloom
glume: dry bract of flower spike in grasses, restios and sedges
guttation: the exudation of drops of xylem sap on the tips or edges of leaves of some vascular plants, such as grasses
gymnosperm: seed plant bearing ovules on the surface of a sporophyll; a plant bearing naked seeds; compare angiosperm
gynoecium: the innermost whorl of a flower comprising female floral parts
gynophore: the stalk bearing the female floral parts
halophyte: a plant that tolerates high levels of salt in its soil or water
haustorium: a specialized absorbing structure of a parasitic plant, such as the root-like outgrowth of dodder that penetrates host plant tissue and obtains nutrients from it
hemiparasite: a plant, such as mistletoe, that obtains some nourishment from its host but also photosynthesizes; also called a semiparasite
hirsute: coarsely hairy
hyaline: having a glassy, transparent appearance
hygrochastic: opening when wet, referring to fruit capsules like those of mesembs
hypanthium: a floral structure consisting of the bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens fused together
hypocotyl: the part of a germinating seedling or embryo below the cotyledon node that develops into the stem
hypogeal: growing below-ground, compare epigeal
hysteranthous: leaves emerging after the flowers have opened; compare synanthous
imbricate: overlapping like tiles on a roof
imparipinnate: of compound leaves also bearing a terminal leaflet or pinna, thus having an odd number of pinnae
incubous: a leaf arrangement in which the upper margin of each leaf lies above the lower margin of the next one; the opposite: succubous
indumentum: an outer covering, such as hairs or down on a plant or leaf
inflorescence: a group of flowers or the arrangement of flowers borne on a single stalk or peduncle
involucre: the modified leaves below and enveloping a flowerhead
keel: a longitudinal ridge, resembling a boat keel
legume: a member of the pea or Fabaceae family
liane: a woody climber growing rope-like stems
lignotuber: a woody swelling at a plant base or at the top of the root system where new shoots develop from adventitious buds, for instance after fire
ligule: a scale-like or thin, membranous projection on a grass stem or sheath, where it joins the grass blade, often hairy
limb: the outer, often expanded part of a corolla or calyx above the tube, throat or claw
limestone: pale, chalky rock
locule: a small cavity, chamber or compartment within an organ or plant part
marcescent: withering without falling off
mericarp: one of the separate parts or segments of a fruit that breaks off at maturity, associated with a single carpel
mesic: less extreme; in ecology, a mesic habitat is a type of habitat with a moderate or well-balanced supply of moisture, e.g., a mesic forest, a temperate hardwood forest, or dry-mesic prairie
midrib: the main nerve or vein of a leaf, usually central
monocarpic: flowering only once and then dying
monoecious: bearing unisexual flowers, both male and female ones on the same plant; compare dioecious
monophyletic: originating from a common ancestor
monotypic: a genus consisting of only one species or a family consisting of only one genus
mucro: an abrupt, projecting point as at the end of a leaf, continuing the midrib
nectar guide: floral cue for orientating pollinators to a nectar source
nectary: a nectar-secreting organ, usually in a flower, also on a leaf or stem
node: spaced points on a stem where leaves, branches or flowers originate
nut: a one-seeded indehiscent fruit including a hard, covering pericarp or shell
osmosis: the process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one
obovate: egg-shaped with broader end above the middle
ovate: egg-shaped with broader end below the middle
ovoid: three-dimensional shape of ovate outline
palmate: lobed or incompletely divided to a central point, compare digitate
panduriform: fiddle-shaped, pertaining to leaves having rounded ends and a contracted centre
papilla (plural papillae): a soft, nipple-shaped protuberance; a type of trichome
papillose: covered in minute, nipple-shaped protuberances
pappus: the ring or tuft of hairs, bristles or scales around the top of certain fruit
parietal: pertaining to the wall or outer surface of a body part
paripinnate: of compound leaves bearing no terminal leaflet, thus having an even number of leaflets
pedicel: a stalk of an individual flower
peduncle: a stalk of a group or cluster of flowers
pellucid: translucent
perennial: herb that remains alive for several years
perianth: the outer or covering floral parts, comprising calyx, corolla or both
pericarp: the part of a fruit formed by the wall of the ripened ovary
petal: a component or segment of the corolla of a flower, in some cases called a tepal
petiole: a leaf stalk
pilose: covered in long, straight, soft, spreading or erect hairs
pinnate: leaflets of a compound leaf arranged feather-like on opposite sides of a rachis
pistil: the female part of a flower comprising an ovary, a style and a stigma, the gynoecium
planoconvex: flat on one side and rounded on the other
plumose: feathery
pod: a seed vessel, often elongated, associated with legumes
pollen: the powdery cells found in an anther, containing the male reproductive nucleus
porrect: forwardly extended, perpendicular to the surface
procumbent: trailing along the ground without rooting at the nodes, pertaining to stems
protandrous: the male (anther) part of a flower ripening first
protogynous: the female parts (ovary and stigma) of a flower ripening first
pubescent: bearing soft, short hairs or trichomes of any type
pustule: a blister-like or pimple-like bulge or swelling
raceme: a flowerhead on which the main tip keeps producing younger flowers, the side-branches each producing single, stalked flowers
radical leaves: leaves that grow from the stem base, appearing to arise directly from the root
ray floret: ribbon-like floret around the margin of a daisy flower
receptacle: the upper, expanded tip of a flower stalk upon which the floral organs are borne
recurved: rolled or curved backwards or downwards
refugium: a location of an isolated or relict population of a once more widespread species
reniform: kidney-shaped
resupinate: facing downwards as orchid flowers after twisting around in the early bud phase
retuse: notched
rhipidium: a fan-shaped cyme, an inflorescence in which successive flower pedicels follow a zigzag path in the same plane, alternating on opposite sides of the peduncle
rhizome: horizontal, creeping underground rootstock or on the ground stem with buds, leaves or scales that differentiate it from a root
rhombic: diamond-shaped
rootstock: the rooted part of a plant
rostellum: a small, beak-like outgrowth compared to a diminutive rostrum; an extension of the stigma of an orchid flower
rosulate: leaves in a rosette or circle
rugose: having a rough, wrinkled or corrugated surface
saccate: pouched
scabrid: roughly short-haired
scale: a reduced leaf, usually sessile and not green
scandent: climbing like a vine or ivy
scape: a flower stalk rising directly from the root or rhizome; a naked peduncle rising direct from the plant base, often with radical or rosulate leaves below
secund: arranged on or directed to one side only
seep: a place where soil water reaches the surface slowly, bringing about wetland conditions
sepal: leaf-like component, segment or lobe of a calyx
sessile: stalkless as of a leaf or stigma
sheath: the lower, tube-shaped part of a leaf clasping the stem
shrub: a woody, perennial plant smaller than a tree lacking a trunk but growing several branches from the base
shrublet: small shrub
sorus (plural sori): a patch of spore-bearing receptacles on the lower surface of a fern frond
spathe: large, leaf-like bract that encloses some flowers during the bud stage
spike: an inflorescence consisting of sessile flowers along a simple, undivided axis or rachis
spikelet: a small spike made up of one or more flowers or florets covered by glumes as in grasses
spinescent: spine-tipped or having spines
spur: a slender, usually hollow extension of a flower part
staminode: a rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen; a filament lacking an anther, sometimes colourful or petal-like
stellate: star-like, with extensions radiating from the centre
stigma: the receptor tip of a pistil
stipe: a stalk of a frond or stem of a seaweed or fungus; the stalk supporting a carpel
stipel: a secondary stipule at the base of a leaflet
stipule: a leaf-like or scale-like appendage of a leaf, usually positioned at the base of the petiole
stolon: a specialised stem or root producing separate new plants away from the mother plant, a runner which roots
stomata: gas exchange openings on green plant part surfaces
strigose: covered by short stiff or straight, appressed hairs
style: the stalk of a pistil linking the stigma to the ovary
subulate: narrowly linear or awl-shaped, tapering to a fine point
succulent: bearing thick, juicy or fleshy leaves or stems adapted for storing water
suffrutex: a perennial plant that is slightly woody only at its base
suture: a furrow where plant parts join, such as the seam of a seedpod
sympodial: an apparent main stem of a plant, composed of successive secondary axes repeatedly halted and replaced by successive new lateral growth, imitating a simple stem but zigzagging
synanthous: leaves appearing concurrent with flowers; compare hysteranthous
taxon (plural taxa): any group of organisms that is given a formal taxonomic name
tepal: component, unit or segment of a flower perianth, not differentiated into petals and sepals
terete: cylindrical or circular in cross-section
testa: outer coat of a seed
thyrse: an inflorescence type in which the main axis is a raceme, the secondary and later axes are cymes; a branching flower cluster in which the central axis is indeterminate and the lateral branches are determinate cymes
tomentose: covered with dense, matted, woolly hairs
translucent: semi-transparent, diffusing light but obscuring definite contours of an object
tuber: swollen underground storage stem or root
tubercle: a small, raised area or nodule on a plant surface
umbel: a flat-topped or rounded flower cluster in which the individual flower stalks arise from about the same point
uintjie: nutgrass, nutsedge or cormous, underground base of certain geophytes, some edible
villous: having long, soft hairs, often curved, but not matted
viscidium: a sticky pad-like gland, part of the rostellum that is joined to the pollinium of an orchid flower
zygomorphic: bilaterally symmetrical, as in flower structure, opposed to actinomorphic or radially symmetrical
Fields and verges are in season clustered with white, pink and deep mauve cosmos flowers that lift the soul, regardless of where they come from! The origins of some of these plants is a story in itself.
The Operation Wildflower website began with the intention of establishing an interactive collection of "Plant Records". These fact sheets would contain propagation tips, identification guides and photographic images.
As the website evolved, and visitor responses and behaviour was tracked, it transpired that there was greater interest in the photographic records with short, less formal notations.
We have decided to retain the original Plant Records for reference (and inspiration!).
If you are inclined to add to these records, you are most welcome. Please email contributions with citations and photographs to
We look forward to growing this source of information in an organic and open manner.
Browse Plant Records in the following Categories -
Plant something that grows and you have changed the world! Gardeners would enjoy such a statement, for everyone likes the ego stroked and hopes for significance of personal existence. But is the change one makes in the world always an improvement? A simple question with a complex answer! If, for instance, your garden interferes with the continued natural vegetation around you, the consequences may well become far-reaching and quite possibly negative.