504 J. W. BEWS. 



(c) Associated Plants of the High Veld. — Of the 

 other associated plants the following list may be taken as 

 typical of the area under consideration. They grow here and 

 there scattered through the grass. A few of them flower 

 immediately after the grass is burned, often in the middle of 

 the dry season. The burning of the grass seems to act as a 

 stimulus to them, and a day or two after the grass has been 

 burned they may be found dotted over the surface of the 

 blackened ground. In this class are the following : 



(xazanea longiscapa, Gerbera spp., Morasa spa- 

 thacea, Scilla spp., Cyrtanthus angustifolius, 

 Senecio pterophyllus var. apteris, Senecio spp., 

 Hydrocotyle centella. 



The others may be divided into spring-flowering plants 

 and autumn-flowering plants. The former class includes 

 many of the bulbous plants. Their flowering is over before 

 the grass grows tall enough to shade them. The autumn- 

 flowering are the taller forms that rise above the grass. 

 The distinction, of course, is not a very rigid one, for 

 the late-flowering spring plants mix more or less with the 

 early-flowering autumn plants, and some species flower 

 throughout the summer (rainy) season. There is, however, 

 a definite falling ofl^ in the number of species found in flower 

 towards midsummer. 



The following list, though of considerable length, is 

 probably not nearly complete even for this area ; but it will 

 give a good idea of the great variety of associated plants 

 occurring in the veld. As far as possible the months of 

 flowering are indicated after each. 



The relative abundance of the various species cannot be 

 readily ascertained, and a special investigation into this 

 subject would be necessary. It was thought, however, that it 

 would be of interest to indicate by an asterisk the more 

 abundant species. 



Heliophila virgata (10), lonidium capense (10-12), 

 Polygala hottentota (2-6), Muraltia pilosa^, Maher- 

 nia erodioides (1-4), M. saccifera"^ (4), Linum thun- 



