AN (ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE MIDLANDS OF NATAL. 521 



bush there is greater variety in the undergrowth. Its character 

 varies directly with the amount of shade and the degree of 

 wetness in the soil. There may be quite open spaces, though 

 unless these are very large, actinometer measurements show- 

 that the full amount of sunlight does not penetrate.^ In such 

 open spaces the veld grasses maybe found. Setaria sul- 

 cata is characteristic. Any of the numerous associated 

 plants may also occur. If the ground is swampy Eichardia 

 africana is frequently dominant. Impatiens capensis, 

 Justitia campylostemon, Streptocarpus spp., sela- 

 ginellas, ferns, mosses, and hepatics are also abundant in 

 moist places. Where the canopy is more dense Clivia 

 miniata (Bush Lily) is dominant. 



Although, therefore, these scattered smaller tracts of bushes 

 may usually be looked on as the remnants of a larger bush, 

 yet their oecological character has been considerably altered. 

 Of course it is not possible to say definitely that all the rocky 

 stream bush was at one time part of a larger bush, and has 

 been reduced to its present limits by the influence of man, 

 but the evidence for this is in many cases at least convincing 

 enough. 



(3) Bush Cleaeing. 



The area at present under consideration, being in the 

 immediate vicinity of Pietermaritzburg, has had more direct 

 interference from man than the more remote parts of Natal, 

 In most of the bush the more valuable timber trees have been 

 cut down, except in the less accessible places. In the Town 

 Bush other trees have been planted to replace those taken 

 away, so that now there is a mixture of such exotic trees as 

 Eucalyptus and Australian acacias with the indigenous 

 trees. 



In many places the bush has been cleared away altogether, 

 the worthless trees and shrubs having been destroyed by fire 

 after the others had been removed. In such places coarse 



1 Ibid., p. 284. 



