PRETORIA GeoArt Series
Welcome to PRETORIA!
The Pretoria geocaching community is very proud to present PRETORIA, the largest GeoArt series to date in South Africa.
Aside from its rich cultural history, Pretoria is also home to an extremely active geocaching community. The Pretoria geocachers are a very social bunch and meet at least once every month to share stories, swap experiences and trackables and enjoy each other's company. During one of our get-togethers, the idea of putting our beautiful city well and truly on the geocaching map was born. It started off as a small idea but we soon realised that it would be a huge undertaking. When the call for interested parties went out, the local community responded true to spirited Pretoria form and soon all 85 caches were allocated to 21 different teams. The PRETORIA GeoArt community project commenced in January 2014 and was completed six months later in June 2014.
We hope you will enjoy exploring our beautiful city of PRETORIA.
UMSILINGA
Syringa
Melia azedarach
A large spreading tree growing up to 23m high with reddish-brown, smooth bark. It has serrated dark glossy green leaves which turn yellow in autumn and clusters of purple to lilac flowers which are heavily scented and appear from September-November. Numerous green berries on turn yellow and wrinkled at the end of the season. The leaves, bark, flowers and ripe fruits are poisonous. This tree invades savanna, roadsides, urban open spaces, waste areas and river banks
Additional Info
- Common name: Syringa
- Scientific name: Melia azedarach (Meliaceae)
- Alternative common names:
Seringa; Persian lilac; bead tree; berry tree; Cape lilac; China berry; China tree; white cedar (English), maksering; sering; bessieboom (Afrikaans), umsilinga (isiZulu)
- Where does this species come from?
Asia to Australia; the form in southern Africa is an Indian cultivar
- What is its invasive status in South Africa?
Existing legislation: CARA 2002 – Category 3 Proposed legislation: NEMBA – Category 1b in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, North West and Gauteng, 3 in the rest of South Africa
- Where in South Africa is it a problem?
Widespread throughout all provinces in South Africa
Fruits are spread by birds, other animals, water and human activities
It competes with and replaces indigenous species. The abundant and prolific growth of this species at the expense of the native flora and fauna could have serious consequences for the preservation of biodiversity. Dense stands along watercourses are likely to reduce stream flow. Indigenous birds could neglect the dispersal of indigenous plants as a consequence of their preference for the fruits of this alien species. The effective seed dispersal by water enables this species to invade protected areas far from the parent plant .
- Does the plant have any uses?
Birds eat the fruits and it is used as an ornamental and shade
Source: Invasive Species South Africa
http://www.invasives.org.za/component/k2/item/279-syringa-melia-azedarach.html
This is the First Puzzle to solve to obtain some of the co-ordinates.
This is the Second Puzzle to solve to obtain the final co-ordinates
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.