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Afrikaanse Inligting
Longstalk Spiderhead Grootspinnekopbos - Serruria elongata
The Longstalk Spiderhead is one of the Agulhas Plains more common proteas. It tolerates a wide variety of habitats and may be quite common on the mountains. By contrast, there a several very much rarer Spiderheads in the region - some of this must still be named and described. Some of them are quite rare. The Longstalk Spiderhead flowers all year round, but peaks flowering in spring. Like most of the smaller proteas, the seeds are buried underground by ants and only germinate after a fire. Dormant seeds "detect" the ideal conditions for them when the sun heats up the soil and it cools down at night. Normally, adult plants form a "blanket" which stops these fluctations.So only after a fire has removed the "blanket" will the seeds germinate and baby plants grow. Spiderheads prefer young veld. They die after 10 years and survive only in the seed banks. This contrasts with some of the Sugarbushes which live for over 40 years, and do not like too frequent fires. The ideal appears to be fires on average every 15-20 years. Without proper fire management, we cannot preserve our Fynbos!