490 MISS L. 8. GIBBS ON THE 
continued fora few years, possibly weakens growth too much to 
resist the attacks of white ants, which consume all vegetable 
remains in tbe shape of dead and decaying wood, covering 
objeets first with their channels of red earth, whieh conserve 
the shape of everything attacked, until on a touch it all crumbles 
into dust. The annual occurring veld fires effectively sweep off 
any secondary tree-growth, so these areas remain bare, generally 
distinguished by the occurrence of smaller and finer grass species. 
Many of the very widely distributed plants seem chiefly limited 
to land under past or present cultivation, like Ceratotheca triloba, 
Phyllanthus Niruri, Mahernia abyssinica, and Blumea gariepina. 
The soil of the veld is generally sandy, composed of dis- 
integrated granite, and the plants typically limited to it are 
characterized by certain trends of development. There is the 
prostrate type of herbaceous plant, with a dense mat of branches, 
which might almost be described as running dorsiventrally along 
the ground, not rooting at the nodes, radiating equally all round 
from a common rootstock, such as Tephrosia radicans, T. lupini- 
folia, Hermannia brachypetala, Bergia decumbens, Pretrea 
zanguebarica; or dwarf shrubs, like Anthospermum ciliare, 
Helichrysum ericefolium, H. leptolepis, Hermannia viscosa, 
H. depressa, Sida longipes, and Polygala rigens; small erect 
perennials, such as Vahlia capensis, Lasiosiphon Kraussit, 
Acalypha zambesica and A. peduncularis, Vernonia Kraussii, 
Epaltes gariepina, Euphorbia benguellensis, Monsonia Burkeana, 
Dicliptera Melleri, and many Leguminose ; also Ocimum obo- 
vatum and Rhamphicarpa montana with decumbent branches. 
Then we get those interesting veld types which hurry to get 
their flowering over before the rains begin, such as Anona 
senegalensis, Odina edulis, and Canthium abbreviatum. These 
have flowers in the axils of the lower leaves only, the upper 
leaves being aggregated towards the apex of the shoots, unfolding 
as the latter elongates, whereas Triumfetta Welwitschii, Tricho- 
desma physaloides, and Senecio lasiorhizus send up their flowering- 
shoots first, the two former subsequently developing vegetative 
shoots, while the latter produces large radical leaves, of which 
I only saw last season's remains. Pharnacium Zeyheri, Heli- 
chrysum argyrospherum, and Lightfootia tenuifolia were the 
only veld annuals seen. Ot bulbs, Hypowis villosa is the first 
to show its bright yellow blossoms ; Albuca caudata, Scilla lancee- 
folia, and Buphane disticha, all flowering before the leaves, were 
