242 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



P. elongata, L'Her. (Outeniqua Yellow Wood) has narrow leaves and 

 a small crimson receptacle. These monarchs of the East attain a girth of 

 30 feet and some are estimated to be a thousand years old. 



Fig. 216. — Podocarpus eiongata, L'Her. I. Branch (|) with three stamen- 

 bearing spikes. II. Ovule-bearing scale. III. Section through the latter, show- 

 ing one ovule. IV. Ripe pseudocarp : r, fleshy receptacle ; b, seed enclosed in 

 green resinous scale. (From Edmonds and Marloth's " Elementary Botany for 

 South Africa".) 



Widdringtonia is the other genus of this order in South 

 Africa. It extends from Natal to the mountains of Clanwilliam, 

 where it is found at its best. In the East it grows five or six 

 feet high. The leaves are needle-shaped, becoming scale-like 

 in the older plants. The cones are large and hard, formed of 

 a few woody scales. The winged seeds of the tree may account 

 for its wide distribution, although its range of altitude is 

 limited, as it is generally found growing on mountain heights. 



The "Firs" which belong to the order Coniferae are native to the 

 Northern hemisphere. The extensive fir plantations on the slopes of 

 Table Mountain show that the soil is no less congenial to them than that 

 of their ancestral homes in Southern Europe. Pinus pinea, the Stone 

 Pine, and P. pinaster, the Cluster Pine, are the species usually found in 

 plantations. The annual rings of some trees cut on the market-place at 

 Cape Town indicated an age of 209 years. ^ 



1 Dr. F. C. Kolbe. 



