FLOWERS OF THE COLONY 363 



Bignonias have beautiful flowers, especially 

 Kigelkeia pinnnta. Many of the Pcdaliacese (especi- 

 ally Sesamum angolense and S. pentaphyllum) 

 and the Selagos (S. alopecuroides and S. Wel- 

 witschii) have a purple and white colour scheme, 

 the latter flowers even appealing to the rather 

 prosaic African women, who wear them in their 

 hair. Beautiful convolvuluses cover trees, bushes, 

 and even the ground ; while with the first rains, 

 even in the most arid country, all sorts of ugly 

 ground bulbs and roots blossom suddenly with 

 beautiful flowers ; in the fertile uplands there is 

 a floral display of lily, iris, and amaryllis which 

 fills one with wonderment, and aloft in the northern 

 forest trees a flower richness of tree blossom, 

 creeper, and orchid, which is only equalled by the 

 water-lilies which cover lagoon, pool, and stream. 



POISONOUS PLANTS. There are dangers as 

 well as delights in the floral kingdom of Angola. 

 Man has suffered for centuries by accident or 

 intention from the various species of Strophanthus 

 strychnos and the dreaded ordeal plant Muave 

 (Erythrophleum guineense), while he uses the 

 poisonous juices of Focea multiflora to tip his 

 arrows, and those of Euphorbia Candelabrum and 

 Cracca Vogelii to poison the water supplies of 

 zebra and fish. 



Animals, especially cattle, suffer themselves 

 from the poisonous effects of Dichapetalum Ven- 

 inatum (Machau of the Boers) when it is young 

 and hidden amid the grass. 



