50 



THE LIVING CYCADS 



One of the most interesting species, Encephalartos 

 latifrons, was found at Trapps Valley, between Grahams- 

 town and the coast. It reaches a height of five. or six 

 feet and has a dense crown of rather short leaves with 

 very broad and extremely jagged leaflets. Field studies 

 are laborious, since the plants are isolated, usually half 

 a mile or even a mile apart. However, the ground is 

 not very uneven, and with a good pair of binoculars one 

 can make efficient use of his limited time. I was par- 

 ticularly gratified to find this species, since it is almost 

 unknown to botanists. 



Its growth is extremely slow. In Grahamstown I 

 had heard of a row of ''bread palms" in front of a house 

 at Trapps Valley, and it was not difticult to find the 

 place. There are five plants in the row, three of them 

 Encephalartos Altensleinii and the other two E. latifrons. 

 A pleasant, gray-haired lady told me that they had been 

 set out when she came to that house as a bride forty-six 

 years before. She said that the E. Altensteinii may 

 have grown a foot in the forty-six years, but that the 

 E. latifrons did not seem to have grown any, although 

 they always had green leaves. 



Before I left Chicago I had heard that there were 

 cycads at East London but could get no definite informa- 

 tion. However, on the voyage between the Sandwich 

 Islands and New Zealand I met an elderly gentleman 

 and his wife and, incidentally mentioning my dilficulty 

 in getting into contact with anyone at East London, 

 was delighted to find that he had been mayor of that 

 city for ten years, and that his wife was interested in 

 decorative plants and was familiar with the Stangeria 

 and Encephalartos localities. They gave mc letters to 



