A little help from the amateur botanists out there

[itma]

The "ten feet high" would have been a useful clue!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes....stop cheating JB

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Errm - i think i gave a few hints

the second couple of photos look eerily like Buddleija but when i asked the lads I was with yesterday they said there were no flowers (but not sure if i can take their word 100%)

Okay, managed to get photos of the 'Buddleija lookalike flower buds - do they look familiar?

It did imply that I was looking at a Buddleijah but needed corroboration!

 

[Tim.S]

Any chance of a pic of the Salvia in bloom? Fascinating place!

 

[Tim.S]

The reason I ask for a piccie of the flower is that I don't think that this is Salvia Apiana as Apiana is an American species, not African. It may be either Dolomitica or Lanceolata, I have been trawling through a few learned papers here trying to find out! There are 26 native species of Salvia and a few introduced ones in Africa. It is so much easier when I have the plant in front of me!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The reason I ask for a piccie of the flower is that I don't think that this is Salvia Apiana as Apiana is an American species, not African. It may be either Dolomitica or Lanceolata, I have been trawling through a few learned papers here trying to find out! There are 26 native species of Salvia and a few introduced ones in Africa. It is so much easier when I have the plant in front of me!

Are we still talking about the suspected buddleia? the ones i've seen ar from between six feet and ten feet tall? no flowers yet just buds if that's what they are

another one for you:

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's a Plane Tree

 

[VEG]

Yep plane tree and them there balls can be cancerous so dont mess with them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Won't be smoking them then - nothing worse than cancerous balls.
Probably introduced there by the English - it's slap bang in front of the old colonial post office and district administrative office at Hlotse

 

[pargyle]

Won't be smoking them then - nothing worse than cancerous balls.
Probably introduced there by the English - it's slap bang in front of the old colonial post office and district administrative office at Hlotse

Just loved the statue in front of the buildings ... are you sure you haven't been reincarnated from a colonial type in a past life ? Looks to be a strong resemblance ....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Went for a spin up to the katse dam today and called in at the katse botanical gardens to organise a few freebies for the orphanage, and whilst chatting to one of the botanists I noticed one of them sage/ buddleia lookeelikee rather tall bushes growing next to the Aloe house. So I told her my story and the debate as to what it may be and.........................

Buddleja Salviifolia
​

Buddleja salviifolia is a semi-evergreen bushy shrub that grows up to 4m high under favorable conditions. Its leaves are dark green and conspicuously wrinkled and puckered above, densely covered with whitish or brown hairs below. Leaves can be broadly or narrowly long. Masses of small, white to lilac blooms are borne in large panicles. The flowers are sweetly scented and vary in colour from dull to clear white to almost true purple. Flowering occurs from August to October (spring).
This shrub is widespread and common in from the Western Cape through the Eastern Cape to Free State, Lesotho, Kwazulu Natal, Swaziland, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Mozambique, Zimbabwe to tropical Africa. It grows naturally in forest margins, rocky hillsides and along stream banks on the escarpment.

'of course', she said 'you could be mistaken in saying the one you saw was identical to this tree, as there is another plant similar - leaves slightly different though - if it was that one, it would be'........................

Buddleja Loricata​

In fairness to some, the last one is sometimes called mountain sagewood

Mountain sage grows up to 4 m and is either a multi-stemmed, densely bushy shrub or small tree. It has a pale brown bark and its branchlets are sometimes covered in rusty hairs. The wrinkly, narrow leaves are stalked, opposite and simple; medium to dark green above, much paler below and have rusty hairs, a raised midrib and side veins. It is sometimes confused with Buddleja salviifolia, but B. loricata leaves have a more rounded base and have no stipules, just a ridge between the leaves. They are also identified by their rusty hairs. The plant is also usually a shrub, smaller than B. salviifolia and the flowers are also different.

The small flowers are in dense terminal spikes or cymes with hairy stalks and calyx. They are sweetly scented, creamy white or yellow, sometimes with orange centres and occur in summer between October to December.

The fruit is a small capsule covered with fine, creamy grey hairs and form dense, woolly heads. The fruits split (January to March) along the flat surface when mature to release very fine, dust like seeds.

Distribution
From Lesotho, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, Buddleja loricata occurs among rocks or in a moist, sheltered place on slopes, mountains and sometimes on streambanks at fairly high altitudes, usually above 1 800 m.
Neither smells of sage by the way!