38S EFFECTS OF DROCCflTS ON DIS'JKIBUTIOX OF PLANTS. 



forming open groves. More socially were grov/ing Protea 

 Lepidocarpodoidron and Lciicadciidroii phiinosnuh of whicli one 

 may meet some closely-set thickets not far from the Kloof Nek. 



The principal shrubby constituents (4-6 feet high) of this 

 impoverished macchia are Cliffortia niscifolia and C. polygoni- 

 folia, Passerina fiUiformis, Aspniathits chcnopoda. Erica baccans, 

 and Thcsuim strictitiii. while among the still lower shrnbs (24 

 feet high) none is more conspicuous than Bninia nodi flora. 



Scattered among this world of pinoid, myrtilloid, and 

 cupressoid foliage appear the large-leaved, but through bush 

 fires much stunted and dwarfed, shrubs of Protea grandiflora. 

 which in other more favoured and not fire-haunted localities 

 grows to good-sized trees with trunks 12-18 inches in diameter. 



It would take us too far to consider all the lower shrublets 

 one or two feet high, for many s])ecies of heath, Thvmela?acece, 

 Penseaceje, Legimiinosie, Rutacese, Composites, etc., abound here 

 intermingled with several specially resistent species of Restiacese 

 (Elegia, Rcstio) and Cyperaceae {Tctraria ). 



It is among this vegetation that the effects of the severe 

 drought of last summer have become '^jit^ciolly conspicuous. 



I. Plants observed Dead. 



Lencadendron argeiiteiini. Here and there, 



Protea grandiflora and Leucospernium conocarpnni. 



PhyJica biixifolia and Coleonema album. All those which had 

 strayed too far from the borders of the ( winter) streamlets. 



Muraltia Hcisteria. Frequently dead. 



Anthospermum crthiopienin. Here and there. 



Borbonia cordata. 



Psoralea pinnata. Some large patches in the Platteklip Gorge 

 (juite dead. 



Alciope tabitlaris, Eitryops crithurifolius, Osteospernuiin nunii- 

 Ufernm, and Elytropappus rliinoccrofis here and there. 



Erica baccans, E. Plukcneti. and Lobostenion glauciini. Occa- 

 sionally. 



Phylica capitata. This does not occur on the western slopes, but 

 numl)ers of it were dead in Orange Kloof. 



2. Plants With Much Shrivelled Foliage, or. Although as a 

 Rule Evergreen, noiv JVi^hout Eeaves. 



The most conspicuous plant of this group was Pelargoniuui 

 cucuUatum, which in specially favoured localities had retained 

 i*s foliage, but had dropped it in many other places. The bare 

 stems, however, put forth fresh leaves soon after the first rains 

 in March. Others are: 



Cluytia pulchella, Peucedanuni Galbanum, Leanotis Leon- 

 urus, Salvia aiirea, Polygala myrtifolia, AthanOsia parviflora. 



3. By way of contrast, it is worth noting that the foUozving 



