African Wildlife & Environment Issue 85

GARDENING FOR BIODIVERSITY

be aware of this difference as, when presented with a selection of cultivated plants, they eagerly attend the orange and red, but often appear less enthusiastic about the yellow flowers. This is because flowers designed by nature to be pollinated by birds are most frequently red, orange, pink and, to a lesser extent, yellow. They are usually tubular and odourless as, unlike insects, most birds lack a keen sense of smell and are not attracted by the fragrance of flowers. However, even when birds spurn the yellow flowers in favour of their orange counterparts, they still don’t leave the plant empty handed (or empty beaked!) because the foliage of all varieties attracts many insects, making an excellent bird buffet. This is not surprising as T. capensis is the larval food plant for no less than ten moth species, including the spectacular Death’s Head Hawk Moth Acherontia

About 20 bird species have been recorded to feed on Tecomaria capensis , including garden jewels such as the Collared Sunbird (Photograph: J Wesson)

with the ubiquitous white-eyes, familiar to just about every gardener. These birds often ‘cheat’ by piercing the bottom of the flower to extract nectar without ‘paying’ for their meal by pollinating the plant. Just like some plants, and several other birds, white-eyes have had their names altered. Even worse, for those with resistance to change, the common old Cape White-eye has been split into two separate species. Those from the Free State and further west, in which the flanks and sides of the breast are buff to peach-coloured (not grey or olive-green), have now become the Orange River White-eye. The remaining birds, occurring from the Western Cape north eastwards to Limpopo Province, are still called Cape White-eyes. There is also a third species, which is now named the African Yellow White-eye. It is a much brighter yellow and, in our country, is found only in the north eastern corner of KwaZulu-Natal and, on rare occasions, in the Pafuri region of Kruger Park. Of course, only the eye rings of white-eyes are white. The Afrikaans name of ‘glasogies’ (little glass eyes) accurately describes their facial appearance. The prolific flowers of T. capensis , which often occur all year round, are usually at their peak during late summer and autumn. Their true colour on plants growing naturally is orange and, according to some unconfirmed sources, also dark red. Plants bearing flowers of the multitude of other colours, including the very popular yellow, are assumed to be horticultural creations. Nectar-eating birds seem to

Although the flowers of Tecomaria capensis evolved to be pollinated by sunbirds, butterflies such as this Southern Sapphire Iolaus silas will also try to reach the prized nectar (Photograph: M Liptrot)

atropos . With thick legs and a very broad body, this moth gets its name from the yellow ‘skull’ marked on the back. While this marking looks as though it is on the back of the head it is, in actual fact, on the thorax, the real head being very small. Even the species name derives from this mark as, in Greek mythology, Atropos was one of the three Moirae, or Fates, who determined the lifespan of mortals. Her particular task was to cut the thread of each person’s life after

50 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 85 (2024)