THE PLANT ECOLOGY OF THE COAST BELT OF NATAL. 403 



"kraals, etc., but is easily killed out by shading. Tragus 

 racemosus and Crossotropis grandigluuiis grow on 

 dry, bare slopes. On sandy soil the strand grasses Steno- 

 taphrum glabrum and Dactylocteuiuni asgyptiacura 

 remain the chief pioneers. The genus Aristida is also 

 important as in the midlands and interior generally, and is 

 represented by A. barbicollis, A. juncif ormis, A. 

 Taipartita and A. angustata. Along the roadsides there 

 are, of course, many rudei'al grasses, but these hardly belong 

 ■to true primitive grassveld. In primitive grassveld the vai-ious 

 vernal aspect socies are much more prominent. 



(d) G-RASSVELD. — This is a semi-stable or subclimax type. 

 The degree of stability which it possesses it owes partly to 

 the fact that grass fires prevent the succession going any 

 further and scrub developing, and partly to the fact that once 

 •scrub has been entirely destroyed over a considerable area it 

 lakes a fairly long time for seeds to be retransported and for 

 scrub to recolonise. Since the pure grassveld areas on the 

 ■coast belt are not nearly so extensive as elsewhere in South 

 Africa, and scrub is never very far distant, this probably affords 

 at least a partial explanation of the relative instability of the 

 ■coast grassveld when compared with that of the midlands of 

 Natal or the highveld of the Transvaal. In the latter case 

 there are enormous areas entirely free from trees of any kind. 



The dominant grasses, with few exceptions, are those of the 

 midlands. Anthistiria imberbis (Themeda forskalii) 

 is dominant over considei"able stretches. Andropogon 

 hirtus also foi-ms large consocies. Pollinia villosa is 

 •common. Rottboellia compressa, Urelytrum squar- 

 rosum, Andropogon ceresiifif ormis, A. hirtiflorus, 

 A. contortus, A. schirensis, A. eucomus, Digitaria 

 eriantha, Panicum serratum, P. natalense, Axon- 

 opus semialatus var. ecklonii, Trichol^na setifolia, 

 Trichopteryx simplex, Perotis latifolia, Pogon- 

 arthria falcata, Eragrostis brizoides, Chloris 

 virgata are all prominent species. 



The absence or extreme rai-ity of such prominent midland 



