Sphedamnacarpus pruriens var. pruriens

Patience is a virtue that I don’t have when dealing with the species Homo sapiens. But sometimes I do have patience…

Some days spent in the veldt are just different than others. Yesterday was a very special day for me. Not only was it the first time in more than a month that I have spent time in my beloved veldt, but I have also found two flower species that I have been waiting for… and one new sighting.

About a year and a bit ago I saw these seeds on a climber. Usually books only have pictures of the flowers, without even mentioning seeds.

Beautiful… beautiful… beautiful…

With seeds it is always difficult to determine the flowering time… sometimes you have to patiently wait for a next season… and hope that the plant will sprout again!

The leafs have been out for a while

Since spring I have occasionally visited the place in anticipation that the plant will make its appearance. My hope was not in vain and the plant slowly started to make shoots with healthy leafs. But the flowers weren’t coming… weren’t coming…

Can you help me to identify this bug?

I photographed the bug and its nymph on the plant in December 2011.

Nymph of the bug above

And then yesterday… I could eventually see which flower makes these beautiful little seeds! It proved to be Sphedamnacarpus pruriens var. pruriens from the family Malpighiaceae, a flower that I had photographed a few years ago for the first time; but never before had I seen it’s seeds.