xlvi INTRODUCTION. 
such South-African types as Faurea (Proteacez), Selaginee, Cyrtandree, Hricacee, 
Mesembryanthemum, and Aloe were encountered by Welwitsch *. 
The Cape subregion must be dismissed with a reference to the latest essay on the 
composition and subdivision of its vegetation f. 
The relationships of the Madagascar subregion to tropical and South Africa have been 
discussed mainly from data extracted from Mr. Baker’s published contributions to this 
rich Flora}, and he has kindly permitted the use of some additional facts taken from 
his unpublished catalogue of the known flowering plants of the island. The number 
of species is about 3650, belonging to 1000 genera and 141 orders. This number 
represents probably less than half the flora of Madagascar ; but it may be regarded as 
a fair sample, consisting partly of the upland or Cape element and partly of the low- 
land or tropical forest element. The twelve largest orders are :— 
Genera. Species. Genera. Species. 
§Leguminose . .. . 8l 352 Acanthacee . . . . . 25 117 
“§Composite. . . . . 59 261 Graminee. . . . . . 48 110 
Euphorbiacee. . . . 39 207 Urticacee. . . - . . 20 73 
Orchidee . . . . . 388 169 Tiliacee . 2. 2. . 6 72 
Rubiacee . . . . . 56 138 Labiate . . .... I18 56 
Cyperacee. . . . . 22 129 Sterculiacer . . . . . 10 55 
Totals. . . . 419 1739 
Ten of these orders are among the first twelve in the Indian Flora, though occupying 
relatively very different positions, and the other two, Tiliaceee and Sterculiacez (replacing 
Asclepiadez and Rosacee), are brought into this position by the very large number of 
species of Grewia and Dombeya. Tighteen orders are represented by only one species 
each, and thirty-five others by twenty species and upwards. Of the endemic order, 
Chlenaces, seven genera and twenty-two species have been defined. The Ternstre- 
miacee afford an example of a widely spread order poorly represented both in Africa 
and Madagascar, whence only one species is recorded. Among characteristic South- 
African genera in Madagascar are Hricinella, Philippia, Selago, Aloe, Aristea, Geissorhiza, 
Gladiolus, Faurea, Alectra, Harveya, Disa, Satyrium, Lasiosiphon, Phylica, and Antho- 
spermum. It is singular, too, that the solitary known Madagascar species of the genera 
Viola, Geranium, and Drosera occur in the mountains of tropical Africa, and the Drosera 
also in South Africa, though none is known to have a wider range. Sufficient evidence 
has perhaps been adduced to justify the course of treating the whole of tropical and South 
Africa and the Mascarene islands as a primary region, divisible into three subregions. 
* « Sertum Angolense,” Trans, Linn. Soc. xxvii. 
+ “A Sketch of the Flora of South Africa,” by H. Bolus. A reprint from the ‘ Official Handbook to the 
Cape of Good Hope,’ 1886. 
+ See Journ. Linn. Soc. xv., xvi., xviii., xx., and xxi., and Journ. Bot. 1881 (phytogeographical), 1882, 1884. 
§ The same position as in the whole of tropical Africa. 
