2/4 CROTALAKIA BIKKEANA. 



Near Pietersburg cir. 4,000 ft., February, 1904, Bolus in 

 N. G. herb. 



Vaalboschfontc'in, 4,400 ft., January, Schlcchter 4234 in N. G. 

 .herb (district not stated, probably in Zoutpansberg). 



ZLLULAND. 



Miss Owen, teste Flora Capensis. 



Soils. — Crotalaria burkeana is most common in sandy soils, 

 ^nd is often to be found in silt along the roadside. G. V, S. 

 Dale, of Potchcfstroom, reports that in some parts of the western 

 portion of his district it is especially common on old lands. It is 

 found that even if it exists in the unbroken veld in such small 

 .quantity as to be harmless, as soon as the land is cultivated, and 

 maize or kaffir corn planted, the Crota-Iaria makes its appearance 

 .along with them. 



Season. — Growth begins about October, or with the spring 

 .rains, according to locality. At Leeuwdoorns it does not appear 

 .till December (Hyde). The plant is said to be most poisonous 

 when the pods have developed, which is usually about the end of 

 Januar)- or in l-\bruary (13). In the Barbcrton district cattle 

 do not appear to be affected until about January (17). It is cut to 

 .the ground by severe frost, and being brittle, soon breaks up and 

 .disappears. By the end of May it is often difficult to find any, 

 even in localities where it is usually abundant. In some years it 

 has disappeared by the end of March. The Assistant Resident 

 Magistrate, Klerksdorp, writing under date January 20th, 1904, 

 reported that the plant was said to be at its worst about that time. 



(rnilCK PLANTS CAISINC. MllKIIIC rKUlBI.KS. 



The late Professor MacOwan, Cape (iovernment Botanist, 

 'Came to the conclusion that there had liecn a serious 

 •confusion in the farmer'.s recognition of the disease, and 

 that a large number of cases of reputed styfziekte have 

 been nothing more than tympanitis, that is " opblaas " 

 or "hoven." The real styfziekte or t'nenta, he points out, is 

 certainly an acute form of neuritis, and is attended by distinct 

 lesions of the terminal portions of the nerve structures of the ex- 

 tremities. Here, again, there appears to have been some confu- 

 sion between true neuritic styfziekte and " lamziekte," which 

 latter Prof. MacOwan considered to arise from the absence of 

 sufficient calcic phosphate in the food to properly solidify the 

 bones (6). It is interesting to note that the general distribution 

 of the disease called gal-lamziekte synchronises with the region of 

 greatest abundance of Crotalaria hurkeaiia. But it should not 

 be overlooked that Crotalaria extends farther east and north than 

 gal-lamziekte is kno^n to occur, and that Crotalaria does not 

 appear to grow in some parts of the Cape Province where that 

 ■disease occurs. Other species of Crotalaria are likely to occur 

 Ihere, however. Mr. B. Burger notes that his stock are not 

 troubled with lamziekte as regularly as with styfziekte; some 

 •years the former is severe, and in others not so bad. Moreover, 



