5io 



ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. II 



and continuous woodland, which in most cases consists principally or 

 exclusively of shrubs, but which occasionally becomes true forest, although 

 of low or middle height only. 



The trees are usually low, their stems generally massive, and the branches 

 gnarled. The leaves (Figs. 271-279) are at most of moderate size, about 

 as large as the leaves of laurel or oleander, usually smaller, or even very 

 small ; they are scarcely ever compound, as a rule narrow, lanceolate, or 

 linear to acicular ; their margins are usually entire. The leaves are not 



Fig. 270. Sclerophyllous flora of Cape Colony. Proteaceous vegetation on Table Mountain. 



From a photograph. 



generally placed with their flat surfaces perpendicular to the strongest light, 

 but usually avoid it by assuming an oblique or parallel position. They 

 are either destitute of an air-containing tomentum, or this is confined 

 to their under-surface ; on the other hand glandular hairs are not un- 

 common on both leaf-surfaces. Even when there is no tomentum the 

 leaves comparatively speaking are seldom shiny, but more frequently, even 

 if smooth on the surface, are dull, perhaps owing to exudations of resin, and 

 often bluish. Histologically the foliage is characterized by the thickness of 

 the walls of all the cells, including even the parenchymatous ones, by the 

 abundance of sclerenchyma, by the strong development of cuticle, and by 



