5°° 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



their leaves, only the succulent Crassulaceae and the thorny celastraceous shrubs, 

 the climbing species of Senecio and Asparagus, are conspicuous by their numerous 

 white or yellow flowers. The first showers have hardly fallen in spring before the 

 discoloured grassy sward begins with wonderful rapidity to become verdant ; orchids 

 (Habenaria), bulbous plants, and herbaceous perennials belonging to the most diverse 

 families, spring from the moistened soil. . . . 



'The social grasses (especially species of Danthonia, Panicum, and Eragrostis) 

 attain neither the height of tropical savannah grasses, nor the softness of their allies 

 that form the meadows of Central Europe. . . . The gay carpet of flowers, in which 

 however yellow and white tints predominate, recalling as it does the physio- 



FlG. 264. Savannah in the most northern part of Natal. From a photograph. 



gnomy of the prairies of North America, presents a pleasing picture, which is only 

 missing for a few weeks during the dry season. Very various families are repre- 

 sented here and display a certain rotation according to the season. Thus character- 

 istic of the spring are bulbous plants (especially Liliaceae and Iridaceae) and orchids 

 (Disa cornuta, Satyrium) ; of summer, Scrophulariaceae (Cycnium, Graderia) and 

 Asclepiadaceae (Gomphocarpus), also among Compositae the Gnaphalieae (Leon- 

 tonyx, Helichrysum), and even a social umbelliferous plant (Peucedanum Cynor- 

 rhiza) ; of autumn, Malvaceae (Sida, Hibiscus), Oxalidaceae (Oxalis), and Campanu- 

 laceae (Lobelia, Wahlenbergia). Leguminosae and Compositae in general play 

 a chief role at all seasons. . . . 



