ANNALS 



OF THE 



SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. 



(Vol. IX.) 



1. — On the Collections of Dried Plants obtained in South-West Africa 

 by the Percy Sladen Memorial Expeditions, 1908-1911. [Report 

 No. 5.)— By H. H. W. Pearson, Sc.D., F.L.S., Professor of 

 Botany in the South African College, Cape Toivn. 



In the expedition of 1908-1909, a general account of which has 

 already been published/" rather more than 3,000 numbers of flower- 

 ing plants were collected. In addition to these a few ferns, Characae, 

 fresh-water Algae and Lichens were also obtained. About 2,000 of 

 these are natives of Namaqualand and Bushmanland. A second 

 expedition, working between Eendekuil and Bethany Drift, on 

 the Orange Biver, is planned to leave Cape Town at the end of 

 November, 1910. This will, no doubt, yield considerable additions 

 to the collections already obtained. 



West Africa, south of the Benguela tableland, is a region of 

 peculiar botanical interest. Many of its species are endemic ; 

 others appear to be remarkably limited in their distribution ; all 

 exhibit a high degree of adaptation in habit, structure, or constitution 

 to the desert conditions, more or less severe, which prevail throughout 

 the area. Many portions of this region have been examined, as 

 thoroughly as circumstances would permit, by Drege, Welwitsch, 

 Schinz and many other botanical travellers, but the wealth of the 



* Pearson, H. H. W., 1910, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, p. 481. 



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