14 
The species of Clematopsis found in the elevated regions of 
Angola would appear in some places to form almost a dominant 
feature of the vegetation. According to the Welwitsch Catalogue 
of Angolan plants, the Ranunculaceae produce a striking effect 
upon the physiognomy of the forest landscape by the presence of 
immense masses of two erect species [of Clematopsis], so that 
large tracts of pasture ground, situated amidst the forests, during 
the flowering season, look at a distance as if covered with snow. 
Whilst on an excursion towards the confluence of the Lopollo and 
Ferao streams, Welwitsch ‘‘ enjoyed ample opportunity to 
admire the scarcely imaginable magnificence of the two erect 
species each with whitish-red flowers 2-2} in. in diameter, and 
with stems 3-4 ft. high.’ 
Whether, in connection with the theory here advanced that 
Clematis has probably arisen through Clematopsis from the genus 
Anemone, the southern Plateau of Africa, part of the ancient 
“Gondwana Land ’’ of Suess, which still connected the African 
continent with Madagascar and India as late as the Cretaceous, 
and Africa and Madagascar well into the Tertiary period,* has 
been the bréeding ground for the evolution of Clematis, whence 
they have spread throughout the northern hemisphere, may be. 
left to conjecture. In the absence of some such explanation, it 
would be difficult to account for the Indc-Malayan genus Wormia 
(Dilleniaceae) and the Australian Hibbertia in Madagascar. If 
a detailed examination of the distribution and structural pecu- 
liarities of the Ranunculaceae from the Southern Hemisphere 
were undertaken, probably some other interesting facts would be 
brought to light regarding the phylogeny of those from the 
Northern Hemisphere. It has already been shown in the case 
of Calthat that the southern species differ markedly from their 
boreal relatives. The solitary Anemone of Tasmania, A. crassi- 
folia, Hk. £., is of a very peculiar habit, and it seems a significant 
fact that the 20 or so species of Clematis endemic to New Zealand 
should all be dioecious, whilst Hutht in his monograph of the 
genus Delphinium remarks on the peculiar structure and isolated 
position of the only two species, D. macrocentrum, Oliv. (Ie. Pl. 
t. 1501) and D. Leroyi, Franch., which occur south of the Equator, 
in the Masai district of East Africa and Kilimanjaro respectively. 
I am much indebted to Mr. E. G. Baker, of the Natural History 
Museum, for allowing me to examine the sketches of Clematopsis 
he made in the Berlin Herbarium, and to Miss D. M. Rolfe for 
assistance in preparing the plate. 
* cf. Arldt, 
19-21 (1907). Die Entwicklung der Kontinente und ihrer Lebewelt, Karten 
+ 'The genus Oaltha in the South, i Se 
ih (gis, im the Southern Hemisphere, A. W. Hill in Ann. Bot. 
‘ — der Gattung Delphinium, in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xx. 473 
