Flora of the Leribe Plateau and Environ*. 3 



The principal collections (besides those of Madame Dieterlen and 

 my own) which have been examined and embodied in the list at the 

 cm I of the paper are the following: Dr. Bolus' and Mr. H. G. Flana- 

 gan's, made in the neighbourhood of Witzie's Hoek and the Mont- 

 aux-Sources; collections made by Messrs. J. Thode, J. M. Wood, and 

 M. Evans on the Drakensbergen and the higher parts of Natal; 

 Mr. Galpin's and Drege's collections from the high mountains 

 M-paiMting Basutoland from Barkly East ; Burke and Zey her' s, from 

 the Orange Free State. 



My thanks are due to Mrs. F. Bolus, B.A., the Curator of the Bolus 

 Herbarium, South African College, Cape Town, who has allowed me 

 every facility for consulting that collection, and who has verified the 

 naming of some species of Orchidaceae and Mesembrianthemum ; to 

 Dr. S. Schouland, M.A., of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown, who 

 examined some critical species of Crassulaceae; to Dr. O. Stapf, F.R.S., 

 the Curator of the Kew Herbarium, who named some of the Gramineae 

 and Cyperaceae ; to the late Dr. J. M. Wood and Mr. E. E. Galpin, 

 F.L.S., who kindly sent me for examination some type specimens 

 which were in their respective collections. To Madame Dieterleu 

 I am under a deep debt of gratitude for her hospitality, which was 

 extended to me and my wife when at Leribe ; for her efforts in 

 obtaining the Sesuto names and uses of the local flora ; and for 

 allowing me the use of her large herbarium. It is due solelv to her 



o 



untiring zeal and energy that our knowledge of the Leribe flora has 

 been gained. 



II. THE LEEIBE FLORA. 

 OROGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. 



The portion of the country investigated botanically was the Leribe 

 Plateau, its slopes, ravines, and the surrounding plains (see fig. 1). 



Leribe Plateau is situated in the Leribe District, Northern Basuto- 

 land, not far from the borders of the Orange Free State. The plateau 

 stands as an isolated table-laud, 5-6000 ft. high, sharply marked off 

 from the surrounding plain by walls of rock which rise perpendicularly 

 for 2-300 ft. The area of the summit is roughly 30 sq. miles. At 

 the southern end is a peak, Qoqolosi Peak, which reaches nearly 

 8000 ft. in altitude. The lower slopes of the plateau merge gradually 

 into the plain, and numerous ravines, with rocky stream-beds, are 

 found all round its boundaries. 



The plateau is built up of Cave-sandstone belonging to the Storm- 

 berg Series (see also geology of the Eastern Mountain Region) with a 



