TIIK PLANT KC()[,()(;V OF TUK COAST BKLT OP XATAF,. '^Oo 



and the water is salt or l)i'ackish. Here tlic (loiiiiiiant 

 veg'etation is composed of inaiigroves, wliicli, as already 

 mentioned, give way to other trees as soon as the soildevel 

 rises beyond the reach of the salt water. The early stages of 

 the halosere is composed of a few chai-acteristic species, 

 which colonise the mud-flats. 



(a) Salicornia spp.- -Salicornia herbacea and other 

 species (e. g. S. natalensis) form extensive colonies or 

 consocies. 



(b) Chenolea diffusa. — This species forms clumps by 

 itself or frequently mixes with the Salicornia. On the 

 mud-flats at Congella the vegetation consists chiefly of 

 associes of these two (PI. XXV, fig. 1). There are a number of 

 species of subordinate importance, e.g. Scirpus littoralis, 

 Triglochin laxiflorum, Serpicula rep ens, Clueta- 

 cantlius personii, Fimbristylis obtusifolia, and the 

 fern Acrostic hum aureum. Zoster a nana is recorded 

 for Natal Bay, but I have not seen it. Various grasses, e.g. 

 Sporobolus pun gens, Cynodon dacty Ion, come in as 

 soon as the mud -level is raised above the reach of the water. 



8. Lake, Vlei and Streambank Vegetation. 



(The initial stages of the hydrosere.) 



On the low-lying portions of the coast belt behind the 

 dunes, and especially near the river-mouths, there is much 

 marshy ground with numerous pools or small lakes. The 

 water is not^ as a rule, salt or brackish. The stream banks 

 must also be included in the same habitat. The term " coast 

 flats," so often used by Medley Wood and others in recording 

 the habitat of species, is generally to be understood as repre- 

 senting marshy ground, though portions of such extensive 

 flats may be dry and bear transitional types of vegetation 

 (grass veld or scrub) representing further stages of succession. 

 Further inland, at slightly higher altitudes, the vleis are 

 smaller, occurring chiefly along the streams, and in these the 

 succession advances very rapidly, as a rale, to bush. 



