A NEW SPECIES?

It was a warm November afternoon. On my way back from Durban, where I was on business, things happened like usually happen when you sit in your car travelling long distances and drinking a lot. I had to follow an urge and stopped the car not far from home. I looked into a beautiful valley with lots of yellow flowers. Not being the expert I thought that it might be Gerbera. But yellow petals and leaves this funny shape, but on the other hand what Peter Ambrosius thought me about Gerbera - leaves come in a rosette out of the ground and flowers are at the end of a single stem, this could be Gerbera! I went to my car grabbed the camera and thought there could no harm done in taking some photos and show them to Peter. He was on his way to South Africa. I did not want to show these photos to anybody else, because I did not want to embarrass myself. The Chairman of the Gerbera Association not knowing how to identify a Gerbera. So, I drove home and waited for Peter.

The end of November comes-Peter arrives. I could not hold back to show him my findings. Looking at the photographs I took he said with a smile on his face, Yes it seems to be Gerbera. But show me where they are.

The mystic valley

The Yellow Mystery

The next day we went to have a look at the yellow wonders. "It is definitely a Gerbera" this were Peters words after he saw the plants in nature, but what kind - Gerbera aurantiaca - this was the first reaction, but that far north, the most northern point they were found was Paulpietersburg in Natal, and this place is more than 200km further north and the leaves shaped like an aurantiaca leaf, but the texture is different. All these "buts".

Peter at one of the Clusters

Peter and I walked the valley to have a look at the different clusters of this amazing yellow plant. And as if this was not enough, on the slopes of the valley a cluster of red flowering Gerbera, and what red, real crimson red - and the flower, small with wide and short petals and in an amazing colour. Again aurantiaca but the leaves definitely the shape and texture of ambigua, but now this word "but" again, flower like a Gerbera aurantiaca and leaves like an ambigua. Are we in the Jurassic Park of the Gerbera? We walked further and if all this was not enough - a patch of mixed coloured Gerbera.

Flower of the red "aurantiabigua"

And again leaves of the ambigua and flowers small, spiky like the Barberton Daisy and the whole colour spectrum from yellow to dark orange close to each other.
We carried on walking and on a different spot on the slope again another patch of Gerbera with leaves like the Gerbera ambigua and flowers shaped like the Barberton Daisy, but the colour a dark crimson red.

We had seen a lot this day and were confused. It is interesting to see what nature has still got in stock for us. On our way home we talked and discussed, but with no result and we left it at that.

Some days later, Peter left already, I called Isabel Johnson from the Botanical Garden in Pietermaritzburg; she is doing extensive research with the Gerbera aurantiaca. After trying to explain everything, e-mails were sent with the photographs I had taken. It did not take long and Isabel phoned. The yellow one looks like aurantiaca. Questions over questions and on that weekend Isabel came to Barberton.
The next day we went to the spot were the plants were found. Yes, they look like aurantiaca, BUT, again this word "but". A permit was obtained to take samples for the herbarium and further research.
Up till today no answers have been found, even Professor Hansen from Denmark who did the classification of the species could not identify the plant. Extensive research has to be done. Something special was discovered.

The Valley of the 1000 Gerberas

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Gerbera Association - Newsletter 6 October 2004