58 THE LIVING CYCADS 



not only the cycad but many other plants in its neighbor- 

 hood have spines or thorns. There are scarcely any 

 trees or even large shrubs in the vicinity, but there are 

 numerous specimens of Aloe ferox, which also got its 

 specific name on account of its ferocious leaf, and of 

 Aloe africana, both of which look hke agaves (century 

 plants) on tall stems. Some of the small, thorny bushes 

 are weighted down by large mistletoes, and the general 

 thorniness is increased by occasional cacti from Mexico. 

 The region is very dry, and a better place for a study of 

 succulent plants could hardly be imagined. 



Throughout this series of collections from Queens- 

 town to Despatch one of the most interesting plants is 

 Euphorbia. On our tennis courts we often find the small, 

 milky, prostrate ''spotted spurge," called Euphorbia 

 maculata on account of a purplish spot on the leaf. Some 

 of these African Euphorbias are small, some are like 

 cushions, a couple of feet in diameter and a foot tall, 

 but the most striking species are large trees twenty or 

 thirty or even fifty feet in height (Fig. 20) . 



Many of our most popular cultivated flowers are 

 native here, Hke Gladiolus, many species of Geranium 

 {Pelargonium), scores of immortelles (Helichrysum) , 

 and magnificent Crinums. Many beautiful plants, not 

 native, easily gain a footing and run wild, Hke Canna 

 and the Calla. Early one morning I counted more 

 than three hundred flowers on a single plant of the 

 ''night-blooming cereus" growing on a tree by the road- 

 side. 



Some of our native trees, like the larch (Larix 

 americana) and the white pine (Pinus Strobus), are 

 being introduced on an extensive scale by the forestry 



