184 DR. F. WEI/WITSCn ON WEST AFRICAN BOTANT. 



and afford orchil and gum arabic in abundance, and of the best 

 quality. In the gardens of Benguela, especially along the banks 

 of the river Cotumbella, European vegetables (Oleraced) thrive ad- 

 mirably, and growing with and amongst them are all the fruits of 

 tropical and subtropical regions, as Citrus, Olea europoea, Ana- 

 cardium, Ananassa, Metis carica, Vitis vinifera, JEIats, Musa para- 

 disiaca, Punica Granatum, various species of Anona, two species of 

 Psidium, &c. &c. The vine bears twice annually grapes of very 

 good flavour. At Mo3samedes (or Little Fish Bay) we find an 

 entirely new coast flora ; the quantity of Tribulus cistoides, with 

 its numerous bright golden flowers, hardly serves to recall the flora 

 of the islands about Loando. Several pretty species of Sesuvium 

 and Mesembryanthemum, together with IAmeum and Giesekia, are 

 found on the sands of the coast, and a subarboreous Euphorbia on 

 the adjoining sand hills covers whole miles, interrupted here and 

 there by masses of Zygophyllum. On both of these latter plants, 

 or perhaps rather on their roots, a Hydnora appears to be com- 

 mon, the flowers of which are sometimes trimerous, sometimes 

 tetramerous ; it may probably, however, be identical with the 

 Cape Hydnora, although removed from it by 12° of latitude. 

 Several species of Kalancho'e and a Mbnsonia, as also everywhere 

 in damp places a luxuriant Tamarix {T. gallica?), remind one of 

 Senegambia ; in the standing waters are Lemna, Marsilea, Scirpus, 

 Potamogeton, Pistia and Nymphcea, and about their margins Hydro- 

 cotyle, Juncus, Ly thrum (!), with Jussicea, JEquisetum, Polycarpece, 

 and several species of Ammarmia, also Typha, Triylochin, Atriplex. 

 Besides these there is a motley mixture of various floras, with a 

 prevailing correspondence to that of Senegambia and the Cape of 

 G-ood Hope. A pretty Vogelia (Pluinbaginacece) is also met with. 

 At a distance of a mile from the coast, however, the forms charac- 

 teristic of the Cape flora are lost ; the vegetation becomes with 

 every step richer in purely tropical forms, which are especially 

 developed on the banks of the Bero, in a variety one would never 

 have imagined, in so apparently dry a coast region. The culti- 

 vated plants of Mossamedes offer a similar medley of the species 

 of different zones. Bananas and Potatoes, Mandiocca and Wheat 

 fields, Saccharum qfficinarum and Linum usitatissimum — fields, 

 some of Hordeum distichum, others of Batatas paniculata, and the 

 like, are all mingled together. Ananassa, Anacardium, and Elais 

 guineensis, however, will no longer thrive ; and Mossamedes would 

 seem to indicate the southern limit of these and of many other 

 tropical cultures on the western coast of Africa. 



