214 M. SEEMANN’S JOURNAL. 
The ravines proved at this season the most profitable localities, 
abounding in Lobeliacee, Epilobium villosum, Thunb., a supposed 
variety of E. hirsutum, Linn., Gomphocarpus fruticosus, R. Br., Pso- 
ralia pinnata, Linn., P. aphylla, Linn., Richardia ZEthiopica, Kunth, 
Ferns, Briza maxima, Linn., Nerine Sarniensis, Brunias, Lycopodia, 
Phylicas, Jungermannias, and the Kweek-grass (Cynodon Dactylon, 
Pers.). The latter forms an excellent turf, and seems to stand a 
remarkable degree of drought without changing its natural colour. 
The Rickardia Aithiopica is called Varkensbladen (Pigs’-leaf). The 
colonists tell an anecdote of it which shows what a mere name may 
sometimes do. A lady of the Cape, who visited Holland, was invited 
to see a most beautiful plant from her native country. She was con- 
ducted to a greenhouse, and the proprietor was just on the point of 
delivering an eloquent panegyric when the visitor exclaimed, “ Why, 
these are nothing but pig-leaves!” The Dutchman was quite shocked 
that any one should have such bad taste as to apply to so fine a pro- 
duction such an unpoetical name. Yet it is a question which of the 
two, Richardia ZEthiopica or Varkensbladen, is the most expressive; 
the one indicates the native country, the other denotes the use of the 
. plant. Swine are very fond of the leaves of this as of several tropical 
American Aroidee. Why a tribe of plants which, on account of its 
acridity, is rejected as fodder by all other animals should be preferred 
by pigs, is a fact that zoologists will have yet to explain. 
On the morning of the 10th of March I took a place in the omni- 
bus, and passing through a sandy, dusty country, and the villages of 
Kalkbay, Wynberg, and Drikoops, arrived after about three hours' ride 
at Cape Town. On inquiry I succeeded in finding the residence of my 
friend Mr. C. Zeyher, who was occupying a house which had formerly 
been inhabited by another botanist of some reputation, Dr. L. Krauss. 
.. Mr. Zeyher's neighbour, also, Mr. Rheede van Outhoorn, was a gentle- 
. man of interest to me, he being a descendant of the celebrated author 
. of the ‘Hortus Malabarieus;' and I may mention that on the follow- 
- ing day I was introduced to Mr. Van Reenen, a nephew of Persoon- 
. I became subsequently acquainted with Dr. C. F. Ecklon, Mr. Zeyher’s 
former partner, and Dr. L. Pappe, the author of the * Flore Capensis 
Medice Prodromus. . Dr. Pappe intends, I understand, to follow up 
his late work by an enumeration of the economic plants of the South 
African Flora. In executing this task he encounters, however, many . 
