C 
BOTANY OF SOUTHERN RHODESIA. 42 
A Contribution to the Botany of Southern Rhodesia. 
By Miss L. S. Grg s, F.L.S. 
[Read 21st June, 1906. ] 
(Prates 17-20.) 
INTRODUCTION. 
Turs collection was made in two localities in Southern Rhodesia, 
during the months of August, September, and October—that is 
to say the latter part of the dry season, which corresponds to 
the end of winter and beginning of spring for that part of the 
African continent. In Rhodesia the seasons show a very marked 
alternation of wet and dry periods, the Summer or rainy season 
beginning in November and lasting until March, about five 
months ; while the remaining seven months, corresponding to 
Autumn, Winter, and early Spring, constitute the dry season. 
The summer rains are not persistent, being chiefly in the form of 
heavy thunderstorms, and rarely lasting more than half a day ; 
while during the long winter period rain is exceptional. The 
air is extraordinarily dry and the sun’s rays very strong, few 
cloudy days occurring during my stay in the country. The 
temperature was generally over 80°, and as spring advanced 
rose to above 90°. Under these conditions, after such a long 
drought, the country presents an arid, not to say desert, appear- 
ance, that makes an indelible impression on anyone to whom 
this type of tropical vegetation is new. 
The whole country is wooded, small trees with spreading crowns, 
spaced, with undershrubs between—a typical ** Baum steppe,” or 
tree veld—affording pasturage for cattle. The Rhodesian tree 
veld continues on the West to Lake Ngami, possibly to Angola, 
on the south to Betchuanaland, parts of the Northern Transvaal 
(Houtbosch and Macalliesberg), Swaziland and Delagoa Bay, 
where many of the tree and veld types, common in Rhodesia, 
occur (12). In August the trees and bushes are quite bare with 
the exception of a few evergreens and some shrubs like Croton 
gratissimus and Tarchonanthus camphoratus, which retain their 
leaves but show such extreme drought condition as to appear 
quite lifeless. Yellow grass haulm generally about a metre high 
covers the ground. As September advances a few of the trees, 
like Dombeya rotundifolia, Turrea Randii, Erythrina latissima, 
and Peucedanum fraxinifolium, flower, but they are too scattered 
to have any effect on the general desolation. In October a 
212 
