Eegional Distribution of the Cape Flora. 243 



terior of Africa, of which they are the southerly continua- 

 tion. 



The Perie mountain summits, the Grahamstown hills, 

 the Boschberg, and even in a less degree Table Mountain, form 

 a series of botanical outliers extending down to the southern 

 corner of South Africa. It is almost impossible to represent 

 this graphically, however, as the vegetation of these summits 

 always approximates in character more or less to that of the 

 districts which surround them. 



These mountain summits are always good collectino-- 

 grounds, and many have even a large number of peculiar 

 species. They are often separated from one another, not only in 

 distance, but by a totally different climate — that of the Karoo. 

 Hence it is not surprising to find, especially in the case of such 

 genera as Disa and Satyrium, an enormous number of species, 

 quite distinct, but only growing on some particular moun- 

 tain. For instance. Table Mountain, Constantiaberg (7 miles 

 off), and the Muizenberg (10 miles away) have peculiar species 

 of these genera found nowhere else. The Cape peninsula, 

 separated by a wide marshy strip (the Cape Hats) from the 

 rest of the continent, possesses a number of indigenous forms 

 (especially species of Erica), and some of them which are 

 found on the mountains of the continent have apparently 

 been developed since the formation of the Cape Mats, 

 and have not been able to cross over to Table Mountain, e.g., 

 Erica fascicular is, one of the most beautiful of all the 

 heaths. 



The Cape flora l:)ecomes even more interesting when one 

 studies the general facies of each of these regions. Most of 

 the plants belonging to any one district have a sort of re- 

 semblance to one another. This is specially well seen in 

 what one may call the flora of the mountain flanks in the 

 south-western district. Collections of plants made wholly on 

 the lower slopes of, say, Table Mountain, the Lion's Head, 

 Devil's Peak, the Muizenberg, the Houwhak Mountains 

 near Caledon, or parts of the Tulbagh valley, show remarkable 

 resemblance in the habit and appearance of the plants. 

 They are all shrubby perennials. There is apparently not 

 a single undoubtedly indigenous annual in the south- 

 western flora. The leaves are small, hard, and frequently 

 rolled at the edge, while the flowers are also small tliuu"h 



