36 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



the Ethiopian region. The country dominated by these 

 four arboreal types extends from the coast inland to an ele- 

 vation of seven thousand feet, covering practically all the 

 region except a few forested highland areas and a narrow 

 coast strip. The forests of the highlands and mountains 

 are composed largely of trees which belong to peculiar 

 African genera, but exhibiting no such peculiarity in ap- 

 pearance as the baobabs and the branching palms. The 

 great bulk of the plants which occur in East Africa are 

 members of genera found in India or are wide-spread in 

 tropical Asia and America. The vegetation is nowhere 

 tropical or luxuriant in growth except in the highland for- 

 ests. Even at the coast the rainy season is short and the 

 country has a semiarid appearance. The greater part of 

 the lowland country below four thousand feet is desert in 

 character with xerophytic plant forms chiefly. 



The thorny acacias in either tree or bush form are dom- 

 inant everywhere below an altitude of six thousand feet or 

 outside of the forested areas. They are primarily plains or 

 riverside trees and are never associated compactly into 

 dense forests. The Leguminosce are represented by many 

 other genera in the region under consideration, and exceed 

 the other families in number of species. Next in number 

 of species is perhaps the RubiacecB, of which the coffee-bush 

 is typical; it occurs as one of the native shrubs in Uganda. 

 The great bulk of the smaller trees and shrubs of the high- 

 land forest belong to this family. The Rosacece are only 

 represented in the high mountain forests and alpine regions, 

 where many of the moorland shrubs and a few trees belong- 

 ing to the order are found. The great bulk of the trees 

 and shrubs belong to the tropical orders of Sapotacece, 



