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In
order to encourage atlassers who are just starting out we run an identification
service based on illustrations, photographs and specimens provided. As a rule we
are very cautious about criticizing initial attempts at protea identification:
it is very easy to overlook important features and make a wholly incorrect
identification. With a little experience these problems seldom recur. More
importantly, we report such encounters in this Newsletter with strict anonymity.
However, we have to make an exception of Peter Ross. He has submitted some of the best SRS received to date, not to mention our potentially new Paranomus (PAN 13: 5). By no stretch of the imagination can he be considered a beginner! And yet, he is also responsible for some of the most bizarre specimens we've had to date. (In truth, we have to admit that he may have been trying to test us - he is so inclined!):
"Aulax cancellata query" (a new record for Constantiaberg) turned out to have leaves with three segments. Everyone should note that in Fynbos a shrub with trifoliate leaves is almost invariably a Rhus. In this case Rhus rosmarinifolia. And we were worried that inexperienced atlassers might confuse Aulax cancellata with a Pine or Hakea!
"Ground Protea species uncertain - burnt but with roots directly from the flower head!". The mere description makes Proteus assume all possible shapes simultaneously in sheer horror. In mitigation, the "head" did look like a bud - but there all resemblance to a protea ended. Picture: two blackened bulbs with roots! Look around and you should notice many other burned out stem-bases of the Sedge Tetraria thermalis Berg Palmiet. Place in a plastic bag and send to the atlas coordinator for instant confusion. Peter, of course, denies all complicity in trying to fool us or that the specimen was collected on 01 April!
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