44 THE LIVING CYCADS 



producing leaves and cones as large as those of the bush 

 veldt form. 



In Zululand the grass veldt stretches for miles, rolling 

 and hilly, broken by huge rocks of granite and gneiss, 

 and occasionally with exposed surfaces covered only 

 with lichens and a peculiar little lycopod called Selagi- 

 nella rupestris. 



It was January when I visited the place in 191 2. At 

 this season, which is midsummer in the Southern 

 Hemisphere, the grass is dry and yellowish, so that the 

 green leaves of Stangeria form a striking contrast, making 

 the collecting much more expeditious than it would be 

 with greener surroundings. 



The plants are fairly abundant, as many as twenty 

 being in sight at one time; but the specimens are scat- 

 tered, with no crowded masses like the thickets of 

 Macrozamia spiralis and Bowenia serrulata in Australia. 

 In January the male cones have either rotted or dried 

 up, and the female cones are faUing to pieces. 



On the Mtunzini grass veldt only a few seeds were 

 secured, and in the bush, which is particularly dense 

 and rich in ferns, the plants of Stangeria were few in 

 number but much larger than those growing in the 

 open. Not a single cone or seed was found in the bush. 

 It is said that baboons are very fond of the seeds and 

 carry them away as soon as the cones reach their full 

 size. 



Zululand is near the northern Hmit for Stangeria, but 

 the range extends southward as far as East London and 

 doubtless even to Port Elizabeth. I made my most 

 extensive study at East London, but I did not see a 

 single plant west of that place. However, Mr. George 



