arranged according to the Natural System. 34-3 



Tecoma capensis grows wild, and is also a favourite garden shrub. — Uncaria 

 Burch. The grapple plant, so called from its hook-lobed fruit, is a most de- 

 sirable plant to introduce into gardens ; but though seeds have been sent to 

 Ludwigsburg Garden, at the Cape, they have not yet germinated. — -ETchium. 

 The species are common wayside plants, and very ornamental. — Nicotz«?za. 

 The common and the Virginian tobacco are almost naturalised as weeds in 

 cultivated ground. — N. fruticosa, by some considered a native of the Cape, has 

 probably been introduced from China. — Datura Stramonium, "the common 

 thorn apple, an extremely virulent poison, is common in many places as a 

 weed, but probably introduced by civilisation. It is equally wild in Europe, 

 Asia, and America." — Physalis pubescens, the Cape gooseberry, is "very 

 common in the neighbourhood of cultivation, but is perhaps not strictly wild." 

 — -Plantago lanceolata, the ribgrass plantain, " which has been introduced by 

 Baron Ludwig, is admirably adapted, as Mr. Bowie informs me, for a permanent 

 grass in our arid soil. It resists the greatest drought, and at all seasons 

 presents a wholesome herbage." — Atraphaxis undulata abounds on the 

 mountains round Cape Town, flowering in' January and February. 



Zaurus bullata, our only species, is a tall forest tree, whose fine-grained 

 dark-coloured wood is much used in cabinetwork, under the unpromising 

 name of "stinkwood," so called from the offensive smell of the fresh-sawed 

 timber. When made into furniture, the better specimens have much the ap- 

 pearance of rosewood, and take a fine polish. 



Pr6te# mellifera, " the sugar-bosch, is a beautiful shrub, which grows 8 

 or 10 feet high, has glossy lanceolate leaves, and for 9 months in the year is 

 covered with its large pink and white cup-shaped flowers, sitting in the axils 

 of the branches. It often occurs in aggregate masses, covering, together 

 with Leucospermum conocarpum, a whole hill-side : few plants can be more 

 striking to the eye of a stranger." 



Brabejum stellatum. A large and handsome tree, with fruit resembling a 

 chestnut. " If prepared by soaking in water for some hours, it may be eaten, 

 but, when fresh gathered, it is extremely deleterious." 



" Ricinus communis (the castor-oil plant, or palma Christi) is common in 

 this country, in India, and in North Africa ; and perhaps Sprengel is correct 

 in considering the other reputed species as mere varieties of this common one. 

 Few plants are more affected by climate, in developement ; what is in the 

 climate of England a tender border annual becoming in the tropics, and even 

 in this country, a tree continuing many years, and often reaching a large 

 size." (p. 303.) 



The oak, poplar, and chestnut are almost naturalised in most parts of the 

 colony. — Taxus latifolia produces the yellow wood. — Shlix. gariepina " is, ac- 

 cording to Burchell, one of the greatest ornaments to the banks of the noble river 

 whose name it bears." — Not a single species of Jbietineae is mentioned as in- 

 digenous or naturalised in South Africa. — Zamia. The colonia is Caffer-broid. 

 — Orchidaceae. The Cape genera belong to the two tribes Vandece and 

 Ophrydeae. — /rideae. " The species are very numerous. They are not con- 

 fined to any one district, soil, or elevation, but abound from one end of the 

 colony to the other, covering the ground in the months of September and 

 October with a sheet of blossoms, that resemble nothing so much as a shower 

 of gaudy butterflies." 



Brunsvigz'a, the " candelabra flower," is common on the flats in the summer 

 months. — ^4'loe. This " is one of the great characteristic genera of the South 

 African flora, though by no means equally distributed through the country. 

 The species are most abundant in the Karoo Plains and the eastern districts, 

 diminishing gradually as they proceed westward." 



Bowiea Haw. " Two species are described, both discovered by Mr. Bowie 

 (now curator of Ludwigsburg Gardens), after whom this genus has been named 

 by Mr. Haworth, and who, by many years of patient labour in the interior of 

 Southern Africa, during which time he enriched the gardens of Europe with a 

 greater variety of succulent plants than had ever been detected by any 



AA I 



