The Flowers and Orchids Field Trip on 25 January 2025 lived up to expectations.

Members of the group pose in typical Verloren Valei setting (Photograph: Greg Jones)
This field trip—my first one for Friends of Verloren Valei—was originally scheduled for 11 January but the torrential and sustained rain over the Christmas period showed few signs of letting up. However, the new date, 25 January, provided us with the sunny weather we needed.
The party of 12 was largely made up of members of the Lowveld Botanical Society, as well as Mike dos Santos. The Lowveld BotSoc has become a corporate member of Friends of Verloren Valei, which is great news for us.
We all met at Milly’s in Dullstroom at about 07:45, as we were unsure if the Reserve’s main gate would be open as MTPA personnel were on strike. We left one of the vehicles at Milly’s as it was not suitable for the rough and muddy terrain we were going to face.
We were very grateful to find the Reserve’s gate unlocked. The road to the office was studded with the spectacular pink flowers of the eastern candelabra (Brunsvigia radulosa). After filling in the necessary forms, we made haste to the waterfall area.

Brunsvigia radulosa lit up the veld on the road to the office (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
A few of the radiant Watsonia pulcra, were still in bloom on the ridge and, in the valley below, the carpet of green-leaved Coccosmia panliculata was showing signs of being ready to burst into bloom. The group immediately scattered in several directions, amazed at the floral diversity, shouting questions from every direction. What’s this? What’s that? echoed everywhere.
Our first four ‘grass’ orchids in the area of the waterfall were, Satyrium cristatum var. cristatum, Schizochilus zeyheri,Schizochilus cecilii subsp.*culveri and a solitary Satyrium longicauda var. jacottetianum.

Schizochilus cecilii, subsp. culveri – one of the many spectacular orchids seen on this excursion (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
We then walked up to one of the inlets just south of the falls. There we found a stunning glade of Satyrium longicauda var. jacottetianum, with a good number of Disperis renibractea, which I initially thought were Disperis cardiophora that had passed their prime.

Disperis renibractea, photographed close to the waterfall (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
Leaving the waterfall area and continuing along the tourist route, we stopped on the ridge to visit a colony of Eucomis vandermerwi, and Androcymbium melanthioides I had previously found. The profusion of these tiny delicate reddish curly-leaved pineapple plants meant we had to take great care where we put our feet.

The distinctive miniature pineapple form of Eucomis vandermerwei (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
Another stop along the route was to have a closer look at a stand of Dwarf Red Hot Pokers, Kniphofia porpharantha. (As an aside, “porphyrantha” means purplebut as there is no purple in the flower or the plant, it’s anyone’s guess why it was chosen!)
Just behind the Dwarf Red Hot Pokers we found a stand of Kniphofia rigidiflora. Although they had finished flowering, it was a great opportunity to show the group the difference in the leaves between the two species.
In the open grassland we discovered a further five orchid species: Corycium nigrescens/ dracomontanum?, Disa cooperi, Disa versicolor, Disperis tysonii, and Satyrium longicauda var. longicauda.
Our next stop was the quartzite ridge in the centre of the reserve where we found dainty white Disa alticola in the pools of water trapped on the impermeable rock. A little further along, a few deep mauve Disa stachyoides were still flowering.

Disa alticola: small but quietly spectacular (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
It was then a muddy slide down the road into the valley. We stopped at the rock-packed gabions stretched across one of the main feeder streams to the Lunsklip river, usually a good site. This little enclave once again produced a few new orchid species we had not seen so far that day: the stunning pink Disa rhodantha and Satyrium trinerve.

Disa rhodantha (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
After a very full morning, the group took a 15-minute lunch break, at which time slices of delectable chocolate birthday cake appeared and generous portions were served, with serviettes to boot!
We then took on the final push to the Orchid triangle. En route, I managed to spot a Disa patula var. transvaalensis alongside the road. We stopped to take a look and a few pictures, as its cousin, Disa patula var. patula, has yet to be found on the Reserve.
The provincial road that runs through the Reserve, a portion of which we needed to traverse to get to the Orchid triangle, was in a shocking state after the January rains. It was with relief that we were met with the view of the deep purple shimmer of the colony of Agapanthus inapertus, indicating that we had reached our destination. We entered the triangle on foot to get a closer look at the Agapanthus, and then did a scout up and down the road verges, looking for new orchids. We were not disappointed, and specimens of Satyrium neglectum ssp. neglectum, Satyrium hallackii subsp. ocellatum, and Satyrium parviflorum all popped up along this stretch of road.

Satyrium hallacki subsp. ocellatum in the Orchid Triangle (Photograph: Steve Vincent)
As most of the group was from the Nelspruit/White River area, we called it a day to allow them to get home in daylight. But before we left the Reserve, we were given one last present: a grouping of half a dozen Eulophia paviflora against a rocky outcrop—the only Eulophia of the day. This beautiful flower is on the cover of Gerrit van Ede’s Flowers of Verloren Valei.
All in all, we identified 105 plants (including 20 orchids) in the course of a very rewarding day!