1. How do I get my photos web-ready?

With modern cameras taking mega size pictures it is very important to get your files down to managable sizes in order not to spend hours putting your photos on the web.

Start downloading this small, but very handy, programme and save it with your other programme files:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/photoresizemagic.html

Also register as a Photobucket user by following this link:

http://photobucket.com

To use these two programmes is actually quite easy, but to assist you a short illustrated manual will be available on the website within the next couple of days.

Clivia Diary

General Meetings:

Saturday 26 May, 09:15, St Thomas’s Church Hall, Rondebosch (GPS: 33° 57' 44" S, 18° 28' 39" E)

Saturday 25 August, 09:00, Durbanville Library Hall (GPS: 33° 49' 46" S, 18° 38' 42" E)

Saturday 24 November, 09:15, St Thomas's Church Hall, Rondebosch (GPS: 33° 57' 44" S, 18° 28' 39" E)

Workshops:

4 August

Annual Show:

22-23 September, 09:00 - 17:00, Bellville Civic Centre

A selection of Clivia and Clivia related photos. If you would like to have your pictures included in this gallery, please send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Please limit size to 640 x 480 px (22.28 x 18.06 cm) and 72 dpi. Remember, any resolution exceeding 72 dpi for the web is overkill and results in an unnecessary increase in file size.

If you have trouble resizing photos, visit HOW TO on our Forum.

Click HERE to enter Photo Gallery

Clivias – a brief history

Clivia belong to the  family Amaryllidaceae  (bulbous plants bearing lilly-type flowers). It is hypothesised that the Amaryllidaceae originated in western Africa.

Increasing drought forced members of this family to diversify and adapt and also migrate along with the  Afromontane forests.

Six species of Clivia have been identified to date (C. caulescens, C. gardenia, C. miniata, C. mirabilis, C. nobilis and C. robusta).

Clivia mirabilis eventually found refuge in the Oorlogskloof canyon and the other five species landed up along the east coast (the Eastern Cape, Pondoland, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Swaziland.

It is worth noting that Clivias are endemic to southern Africa and, although now propagated all over the world, are found nowhere else in the wild.

The six species (and more):

Clivia nobilis. William Burchell, an English naturalist, made the first scientific collection of Clivia species (C. Nobilis) in 1813. It was only named after Lady Charlotte Florentine Clive, Duchess of Northumberland, in 1822.

C. nobilis grows mainly in the coastal areas of the Eastern Cape, from the Zuurberg Mountains to just north of the Kei River.

It flowers mainly from early July to early December, but also sporadically at any other time of year.

Clivia miniata. The most popular of all Clivia species, C. miniata, was discovered in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1850s.

Habitat ranges from south-west of the Kei River to the southern, central, eastern and north western parts of KwaZulu-Natal, to eastern Mpumalanga and western and northern Swaziland.

C. miniata flowers from early August to mid November, but also sporadically at any other time of year.

“Miniata” means “coloured with red lead or cinnabar”. The first yellow form of C. miniata was discovered in KwaZulu-Natal in the late 1880s.

Clivia gardenii. Major Robert Jones Garden discovered this species in the mid 1850s.

Also known as the Natal drooping clivia, C. gardenia is confined to the central, eastern and northern parts of this KwaZulu-Natal.

Flowering time: Early April to mid-July.

Clivia caulescens. Although E.E. Galpin probably collected the first specimen in 1890, it was only first described by Dr. R. A. Dyer in 1943.

Isolated populations of C. caulescens are found in northern Swaziland, eastern and northern Mpumalanga, and central and northern Limpopo.

C. caulescens flower mainly from Early September to early November, or sporadically during the year.

“Caulescens” refers to the distinct aerial stems (sometimes up to 3 m in length) displayed by mature plants.

Clivia mirabilis. Discovered in 2001 in the Oorlogskloof Nature Reserve near Niewoudtville by Johannes Africa and Wessel Pretorius, this is indeed the “miraculous” member of the Clivia species. It  is not only morphologically distinct but also, unlike the other five species, grows a semi-arid region.

Distribution:  Near Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape and in the Western Cape near Vanrhynsdorp.

C. Mirabilis flowers from late October to late November.

Clivia robusta. Although first collected by W. L. Chiazzari in 1960, C. robusta was only formally described in 2004, having previously been identified as a robust form of C. gardenii, hence the epithet “robusta”.

Distribution: The Pondoland centre of endemism.

Flowering period: Late March to mid July.

Interspecifics. Crossing different species of Clivia has led to an interesting range of flower shapes and colours.