lolita 
WAYFARING NOTES IN RHODESIA, 207 
flower again at the end of Ramer ber, The flowers are sweet- 
scented. At certain seasons much astringent gum exudes from the 
trunk and branches. Individual aes standing well apart from 
others sometimes attain a large size. 
In former notes I have referred to Pretrea, which is very widely 
distributed. Its fruits are the despair of cyclists, for no more 
effective tyre-puncturer could very well be devised. I found these 
fruits in great quantities in the deep sand round about the post- 
Ta 
railway passes, for much of the way, ee forest of moderate 
density. Most of the trees were bare, and the ground parched- 
looking. The association of this wintry iook with the burning sig 
that tyrannizes at midday astonishes when seen for the first tim 
going over one’s dried specimens, one realizes ose: in- 
adequately they represent the plant in life. There must be many 
interest to the traveller, and certainly one of the marvels of packing 
in the vegetable kingdom is the disposition of the seeds with their 
silky appendages i in the capsules of many of the Asclepiadacea, The 
apparent disproportion as to bulk between the seeds as they emerge 
from the ripe capsule and the aspen within which they were confined 
reminds one of a conjuror’s box 
e thorns in many species of Acacia are fistulous; some are 
very tetrible , approaching in size to a meat-skewer. They bulge at 
about the junction of the lower third with the middle third of their 
length, much as the scape of the onion does. These formidable 
thorns would appear ns be associated with the caseane delicacy of 
the leaves of Yolg Acaci 
Myrothamnus is again abundant enough, but I have only 
ined it at Fort Gibbs, in Matabeleland. There it was plentiful 
in the pace! soil, lying in the ead = ee exposed granite. 
I found many female individuals ; I found Canna 
indica growing in a spot where it sere eat Tikely £ a have been intro- 
duc 
uce 
The Mopani (Copaifera) is very abundant. The wood is prized 
for mining antes os - mn vils a termites do not touch it. The 
crushed leaves have a terebinthous smell. The gum exudes natu- 
rally, and should prove a useful Rhodesian export. This tree grows 
in some localities almost to the exclusion of others. Its bilobed 
leaves make a mournful sighing in the wind, but it is scarcely correct 
to describe the tree as affording no o shade 
There are several species of Ficus; they deserve attention as 
possible sources of rubber. I noticed one species with abundant 
latex ; this had bled from the os shoots upon the leaves eared 
staining them a The first impression I got upon seeing thi 
particular was that some colony of birds had made it 
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