merous species of Cissus {Vitis), by their varied habit and mode 

 of growth, characterize the three great botanical regions into 

 which, in my opinion, the district of Angola and Benguela 

 must be divided. The entire number of species of Ampelidea 

 found by me in the above-named countries amounts to about 

 forty (in which, however, are included two species of Leea), and 

 a very remarkable plant, which occurs upon the high sandy 

 plains of the district of Ambaca, and which ought probably to 

 constitute a new genus. These forty species of Ampelidem are 

 spread over a space of 300 miles from east to west, commencing 

 with the burning sandy steppes of the Atlantic coast region, and 

 extending into the richly wooded, cool, elevated plains of the 

 interior. Throughout this space the number of species increases 

 gradually, and the number of individuals becomes continually 

 greater. With regard to their geographical distribution, it is 

 found that the species with thick, sappy, fleshy stems preponde- 

 rate in the littoral regions (0-1600 feet alt.); those with elon- 

 gated, ticining stems, in the region of the primeval forests ; and 

 the species with upright, scarcely ticining stems, in the highest 

 region of the elevated plains of the interior. Thus, the species 

 ' caule stante' are very rare in the littoral region, whilst almost 

 all the species which are found in the region of the elevated 

 plains exhibit a short upright stem, without any tendency to 

 scramble or to climb." 



We are favoured by Dr. Welwitsch with a living plant of his 

 Cissus macropus, which has flowered, and will by-and-by appear 

 in our pages ; at the same time another of the same remarkable 

 group has been sent to us from Nam aqua Land by another 

 distinguished African traveller and artist, Thomas Baines, Esq. 

 Its turnip-like trunk is 18 inches in circumference, but differs 

 remarkably, besides other characters, from C. macropus, in having 

 the leaves ternate, not quinate ; and it is further remarkable 

 that, as Welwitsch's plant inhabits the region where Welwitschia 

 mirabilis grows in Benguela, so our Vitis Bainesii is found, we 

 believe, in the region of the Namaquas, where Mr. Baines also 

 found the Welwitschia. 



Vitis Bainesii requires the protection of a warm stove, and it 

 flowered in July, 1864. 



Fig. 1. Entire flowering specimen, — much reduced in size. 2. Portion of a 

 flowering branch,— natural size. 3. Bud and flower. 4. Calyx and pistil, with 

 the large hypogynal glands. 5. Petals in a state of cohesion, hence calyptri- 

 form i — all more or less magnified. 



