166 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 970 



and collections to make the life liistory stud- 

 ies more complete are being forwarded to 

 Sydney, where they are cared for by Professor 

 Maiden. This work will be continued by my 

 friend, Professor A. A. Lawson. 



The two African genera, Stangeria and 

 Encepluilartos, are confined to a narrow strip 

 along the southeastern coast, and throughout 

 most of the range the two genera are asso- 

 ciated. 



Siangeria is quite fern-like in appearance 

 and was described as a species of Lomaria be- 

 fore the cones were discovered. There is 

 probably only one species, 8. ■paradoxa, al- 

 though several attempts have been made to 

 make more species. A species maker, un- 

 familiar with Stangeria in the field, could 

 easily be tempted by carefully selected plants, 

 or even by different leaves from the same 

 plant, for leaves vary from entire to serrate, 

 and sometimes the serrations are so deep that 

 the leaf becomes almost bipinnate. We all 

 know what gardeners can do with ferns of the 

 Nephrolepis type. 



Stangeria is most abundant on the open 

 grass velt, where it grows in dense grass as 

 tall as the plant itself. It also grows in the 

 shade in the bush velt, and here it becomes 

 much taller than in exposed situations. Were 

 it not for the obvious relation between the 

 grass velt and bush velt forms, one might 

 describe them as distinct species. 



Stangeria in the field, with one, two or 

 three leaves, and only rarely with five or six, 

 presents a striking contrast to the cultivated 

 plant, with its abundant foliage. 



My own collections, supplemented by collec- 

 tions made in Zululand by Professor W. C. 

 Worsdell, and in the Transvaal by Professor 

 W. T. §axton, and particularly by collections 

 made near Kentani by Miss Sarah van 

 Eooyen, have made the series for morpholog- 

 ical study very complete. 



Encephalartos, with about a dozen species, 

 is the dominant genus. I was able to study 

 nine species in the field and saw the rest in 

 botanical gardens. The various species may 

 be placed in three fairly definite groups, one 

 with the stems tuberous and subterranean or 



extending slightly above the surface; and the 

 other two with stout cylindrical trunks. 



Encephalartos villosus, the most familiar 

 species in cultivation, is a type of the tuberous 

 group. It grows in the shade, has a wide 

 range, and at various places is associated with 

 species of the other two groups. E. hrachy- 

 phyllus in Zululand is an interesting but little- 

 known member of this tuberous group. Still 

 less is known of E. cy cadi f alius, which I saw 

 in the field only at East London. The ovulate 

 cone is quite characteristic, but is clearly of 

 the E. villosus type. E. Hildehrandtii, quite 

 familiar in cultivation, does not occur as far 

 south as Zululand, and, consequently, I did 

 not see it in the field, but it certainly belongs 

 to the E. villosus group. 



E. caffer may be taken as the type of one 

 of the two groups with cylindrical stems. It 

 is abundant at Van Staadens, near Port Eliza- 

 beth, where it grows in the sun, on rocky 

 mountain sides. The ovulate cones are the 

 largest ever reported for any gymnosperm, 

 sometimes reaching a weight of 90 pounds 

 (45 kilos). 



A nearly related species, E. Altensteinii, 

 quite common in cultivation, was studied at 

 various places from Zululand to East London. 

 This species looks so much like E. caffer that 

 the labels in botanical gardens are not always 

 convincing, and local botanists assured me 

 that they could always select leaves from E. 

 Altensteinii, which taxonomists, at a distance, 

 would identify as E. caffer. Some confusion 

 may have crept into the literature through 

 such practical jokes. A young plant of E. 

 Altensteinii — and a plant 100 years old might 

 be called young — could hardly be mistaken for 

 E. caffer; but an old plant is sure to make 

 trouble, if one is trying to identify it with a 

 manual. A fine specimen of Encephalartos 

 in the Botanical Garden at Melbourne, Aus- 

 tralia, bore no label, and the director informed 

 me that he had removed the label, placed there 

 about fifty years before by Baron von Miiller, 

 who had identified the plant as E. Alten- 

 steinii, because the specimen did not agree 

 with that description. A couple of young 

 leaves, doubtless due to a wound at the base 



