24 Jan 2026

I took a photograph of this flower in the Western Cape, at that nature reserve where one goes to see the Namaqualand daisies. It was a while back. We were visiting my aging aunt. It turned out to be the second last time I saw her. This flower has personality. It seems to be sticking its tongue out. I think I see it as my weird Capetonian cousins? Cape Independence. Would I be able to live with my weird Capetonian cousins? Would they let me? Would they let me into the Afrikaner Volkstaat? Would I need to do a pencil test? What if my DNA exposes a Black ancestor? Unlikely for me, but not for many Afrikaners. I wonder how they would go about deciding who is them and not them?

Claude: As for identification: the photograph makes it much clearer. Those distinctive drooping, tongue-shaped petals arranged in whorls around a central stem, with the fuzzy grey-green new growth above — this looks very much like Salvia africana-lutea (Beach Salvia / Strandsalie), a common fynbos species. The rusty-brown to terracotta colouring of the calyces is characteristic, and the overall structure matches well. It's widespread in the Western Cape.