11.— THE PLANT FORMATIONS OF THE CAPE PROVINCE 



(with Map). 



By R. Marloth, Ph.D., M.A. 



[The lecture was illustrated by lantern-slides.] 



In a former communication to this Association I ventured to lay 

 before you some notes on the phyto-geographical subdivisions of South 

 Africa. Although I know that other writers hold different views, it 

 appears to me preferable to divide the whole country into two principal 

 provinces, one being the Cape Province and the other one the southern 

 portion of the large Pala'otropical African Province. The latter con- 

 sists of several sub-provinces, which, although often veiy different in 

 aspect, ecological features and systematic composition, are so much less 

 distinct from each other in their floristic characters, that they would 

 not represent provinces of the same rank as the Cape Province. 



The Cape Province, in a botanical sense, occupies only a small 

 portion of south-western Cape Colony, reaching from the Bokkeveld 

 Berg in the north to the Hex River Mountains, and from there to the 

 Gamtoos River, exclusive of the Little Karroo (Oudtshoorn Karroo), 

 the Robertson Karroo and the forest districts of George, Knysna and 

 Humansdorp. Within this small compass occur over 6000 species of 

 plants, and it is consequently obvious that there must be many plant- 

 societies, plant-associations and foi'mations to be met with here. 



It will be impossible for me to refer here to all these or to do 

 justice to those which I intend to mention, but I hope that the illustra- 

 tions will make up for the enforced shortness of the descriptions. 



I intend to arrange the formations according to regions of altitude, 

 viz. : — 



(1) The coastal plains. 



(2) The hills. 



(3) The mountain region. 



(4) Subalpine summits. 



A. THE COASTAL PLAINS. 

 I. The Seashore. 



(1) Rocky Shore. — This formation shows several facies according 

 to locality. 



{a) The south coast, particularly the coast of Bredasdorp and 

 Caledon. The vegetation is fairly dense right down to high-water 

 level, consisting for the most part of Coleone'nia album, Passeritia 

 fiJiformis, Sidcroxylmi hierme, some species of B/ius and a few^ othei's. 

 The rocks are covered with lichens, e.g. Xanthoria parietina, Roccella 

 tinctoria. Patches of Ahe succotrina are not rare. Almost all show 

 the destructive influence of the sea wind. 



