248 Mr Scott Elliot on the 



P. tenuifolia, Indigofei^a argyracea, Cluytia alaternoides, Phyl- 

 lanthus verrucosus, Pharnaceum dichotomum, and Aptosimum 

 dej^rcssum. A habit so exactly similar in plants so widely 

 different genetically seems certainly to prove the direct 

 influence of physical conditions. 



The second class mentioned above consists of those plants 

 which suddenly spring up and flower for a very short time 

 after a shower of rain. They are almost all bulbous or 

 tuberous, and many orders have developed bulbs which 

 usually show no trace of them. For example, the whole 

 section Hoarcia of the genus Pelargonium is bulbous. Acan- 

 thosicyos is a peculiar leafless and bulbous cucurbitaceous 

 plant, while Lilies, Irids, and especially Amaryllids, are so 

 numerous that one must not refer to them in detail. Per- 

 haps the most striking plant of all is Brunsvigia, of which a 

 single plant can be distinguished a mile away. The plants 

 of this group, as seen in Herbaria, are utterly different from 

 the usual type of desert plants. One must, however, re- 

 member that the physiognomy of a plant depends on the 

 climate during the flowering and assimilating season only, 

 not on that of the whole year. It is this fact which pre- 

 vents one from noticing, as often as one might otherwise do, 

 the direct influence of the climate. 



In the Karoo another marked feature (chiefly observable, 

 however, in the first class of plants mentioned) is the great 

 number of thorny plants. Of course this is usually ascribed 

 to the vast herds of antelopes formerly present, but it is so 

 often to be seen in hot, dry, and rocky places that I have 

 often doubted whether that is a sufficient explanation.* 



In the eastern districts the plants are neither so numerous 

 nor interesting. The forests, however, at the Knysna, the 

 Perie Mountains, and Bedford are very distinctive. Prac- 

 tically, there are no forests at all in the western district. 



It is hopeless to attempt a description of the beauty of 

 these forests. The trees are far finer than usual in virgin 

 forests, and not crowded. Graceful tree ferns spring up 

 every here and there. The trunks and branches, as well 

 as the twining creepers, as thick as one's wrist, which hang 



* Belt, Naturalist in Nicaragua, p. 46. " This spiny character of vegetation 

 seems to be characteristic of dry, rocky places and tracts of country liable to 

 great drought." 



