THE BOTANICAL REGIONS OF 

 SOUTH AFRICA 



It is difficult in a small book for small children in South Africa 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 different flora 

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

 sandy soil will dififer 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 : — 



I, 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 charac- 

 terized 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 height. To 

 the east, however, beautiful forests exist in this region. They are com- 

 posed of Podocarpus (Yellow-wood), Ficeroxylon (Sneezewood), Grewia, 

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

 timber. 



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

 unijlora 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 Amaryllideas 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 Irideoe, Proteace^e, 

 Oxalis, Leguminoseae, 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. 



