The Botanical Regions of South Africa 377 



It is difficult in a small book for South African schools to give a 

 satisfactory list of plants. A group of plants familiar in one district will 

 be quite strange on the opposite side of a mountain range. The " South 

 Easter " that parches one part of the country brings needed rains to 

 another. Rainy winters of the Western Province produce a dififerent 

 flora from that of the dry winters and rainy summers of the East. Plants 

 in a sandy soil will differ from those in a clayey soil. Dr. Bolus, in his 

 " Sketch of the South African Flora," has given a vivid picture of the five 

 botanical regions he has defined as follows : — 



1. The South- Western Region is a strip from 40 to 80 miles wide, 

 extending along the coast from near the mouth of Oliphant's River to 

 the region of Port Elizabeth. It is bordered on the landward side by a 

 range of mountains from 4000 to 8000 feet high. It is characterized by 

 low-growing scattered shrubs, with small leaves of a sombre greyish-green, 

 due to their waxy covering. Trees are chiefly confined to the seaward 

 mountain slopes, and seldom exceed 50 feet in heigth. To the east, how- 

 ever, beautiful forests exist in this region. They are composed of Podo- 

 carpus (Yellow-wood), Ptceroxylon (Sneezewood), Grewia, Sideroxylon 

 (Milkwood), Olives, and others, some of which furnish good timber. 



Few flowers are found in summer except in the mountains. Disa 

 unijiora can be found in January, and in March the flowers are at their 

 best along the mountain streams of the Peninsula and about Wellington. 



The Amaryllideag have so much stored food that they need not wait 

 for the rains, and Buphane and Brunsvigia fruits, chasing each other 

 over the veld, remind us to be on guard. May is the beginning of the 

 fall season. In a few weeks after the first rains the veld is aglow 

 with Irideae, Proteaceae, Oxalis, Leguminosae, and Ericaceae. 



2. South-Eastern Region. — From the Zitzikamma forests around 

 the east coast, a broader strip of country than that on the south-east 

 coast passes up to the Tropics. The vegetation changes. Trees are 

 conspicuous with handsome green foliage. Palms and Encephalartos 

 (Kaffir Bread) begin to appear, and the vegetation becomes tropical. 

 Euphorbias and Aloes are typical ; epiphytic orchids festoon the trees 

 and tree ferns become more frequent. 



3. The Karroo Region.— North of the South-West region, and ex- 

 tending somewhat farther east, there is a similarly curved region with 

 the Nieuwveld mountains as a northern boundary. It is a large shallow 

 basin surrounded by mountains. Violent rains have carried off^ the soil. 

 Grazing flocks, by destroying vegetation and thereby loosening the soil, 

 aid in the process, and year by year the rivers have carried away " the 

 dust of continents yet to be". The climate is marked by dryness and 

 extremes of heat and cold ; the desert of the dry season becomes a garden 

 after rain. Its plants are thorny and succulent, with underground 

 storage systems. Acacia horrida (Karroo thorn), Portulacaria afra 

 (Spekboom), Sarcocaulon (Candlebush), Tesiudinaria (Elephant's foot), 

 serve as examples. 



4. The Upper Karroo, or Region of Compositae, a mountainous 



