COLLECTED BY MR, ALEXANDER WHYTE. 3 
The flora of the mountain proved to be most interesting, the species met with being 
mostly distinct from those of the plain or even the lower slopes. The most striking 
botanical feature of the plateau is a large cypress. The remnant left of this fine conifer 
is confined to a few of the upper ravines and valleys, the largest forest of them finding a 
comparatively secure habitat in the damp gorges of the Lutshenya valley. A few old 
scorched monarchs of the glen lead a precarious existence pretty well up the southern 
slopes of the main mountain ; but, unless steps are taken to protect them, these interesting 
relics of the past are doomed to speedy destruction. It is deplorable to witness the 
devastating effects of the annual bush-fires, from which even this lofty and all but 
inaccessible retreat is not exempt. During the dry months of August and September 
these fires, originating from the villages on the lower slopes of the mountain, gradually 
creep up the precipitous cliffs from tuft to tuft of grass until at last they reach the 
grassy plateau. Once there, the work of destruction is rapid. The fire rages over the 
table-land and eats its way along the edges of the remaining belts of forest, annually 
scorching, if not burning, the bark and timber of the outside trees, and killing outright 
the young seedlings. In exceptionally dry seasons it appears that these fires have even 
penetrated some of the damp forests, and hundreds of giant cypresses lay prostrate and 
. piled on each other in all stages of destruction, but generally burnt right through at 
the base of the tree. Mr. Whyte measured several of these dead conifers, and one (by no 
means the largest met with) was 140 feet in length and 53 feet in diameter at 6 feet from 
its base, with a clear straight stem of 90 feet. The cones of this species of cypress 
(which may be new to science) are somewhat smaller than a chestnut, and open into four 
scales, each having a spur at its apex, and covering five or six winged seeds. The foliage 
is juniper-like, and the timber is of a dull reddish white colour, of excellent quality and 
easily worked. The bark on old trees is of great thickness. 
Tree-ferns attain a great size in the damp shady forests of the plateau; one measured 
was 30 feet in height and 2 feet in diameter at its base. 
Mr. Whyte was impressed with the gorgeous displays of wild flowers in some favoured 
nooks of these highlands. There he observed creamy-white and yellow helichrysums, 
mingling with purple and blue orchids and irises, and graceful snow-white anemones, all 
blooming in wild profusion, and rearing their heads from a bed of bright-green grassy 
sward—a floral carpet which Nature alone can fashion. Altogether he procured several 
thousand specimens of dried plants. The grass-lands had been too recently burned to 
permit many of the plants reaching their flowering stage. 7 
Of the 64 Natural Orders to which the flowering plants belong, nearly half are 
represented by single species. Composite are most numerous, having 50 species, and 
are followed by Leguminose with 28 species. 
The great majority of the known and described species obtained by Mr. Whyte from 
Milanji have already been noted from Tropical Africa. If to these are added the species 
here described for the first time, it appears that no less than 62 per cent. belong to 
tropical vegetation. Of the remainder a small number, amounting to 6 per cent., are 
plants widely distributed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, such as 
E : B2 
