340 THROUGH ANGOLA 



colony than in the colder highlands of the south 

 and centre and the rainless south-west coast. Wel- 

 witsch described three botanical zones in Angola : 

 a somewhat arid coastal zone from the sea-level 

 to 1000 feet above it; the woodland lower plateaux 

 of 1000 to 2500 feet altitude; and the savannah 

 zone of the high plateau, where there are grass 

 lands woo> ed only in the valleys. 



The varying character of the Ampelideae and 

 Euphorbiaceas orders of plants admirably demon- 

 strates these three zones, the former growing as 

 fleshy, light green, smooth plants in the dry littoral, 

 as dark green hairy creepers in the denser forests 

 of the middle highlands, and as shrubs in the 

 drier open forests of the interior ; while the 

 coastal euphorbias are high and cactus-like, the 

 woodland plateaux have shrubs and climbing 

 species, and on the highlands the cactus-like 

 form reappears. Anonacese and Sapindacese and 

 most of the Lcguminosse and Rubiacese, Com- 

 bretaccse, and Lythracese seldom descend to the 

 coast, being chiefly found in the denser forests of 

 the well-watered middle highland zones, as are 

 the climbing Menispcrmaceas. The Ranuncu- 

 laceaj, Capparidacece, Convolvulaccoa, Myrtacese, 

 and Apoeynacese are widely distributed, but tiie 

 Violacese and Polygalacete are found only in the 

 north and centre of Angola. The shrubs of 

 Malvaceae are abundant between 1500 and 4000 

 feet, decreasing towards the south of Angola, and 

 Sterculiaeese, Tiliacese, and Mcliacea;, which pro- 

 vide so inany of the larger fores I. hves, have a 

 somewhnt similar distribution. The Draseruv-'-j' 



