32 B. Marloth, Ph.D., M.A. — Some Adaptions [Feb. 26, 



The number of representatives of the second class is somewhat 

 smaller, but among them are some especially noteworthy. The 

 Amaryllis Belladonna, several species of Haemanthus and Bruns- 

 vigia are most remarkable for the size of their flowers or inflorescences 

 as well as of their bulbs. They are usually called early flowerers, 

 because it is thought that their blossoms, which appear towards the 

 end of summer, belong to the leaves produced during the following 

 winter, while it actually is the second stage of the plant's life, just as 

 the European Colchicum autumnale (meadow's saffron) blossoms in 

 October and November, hiding the fertilized ovary deep in the ground 

 during the winter, and developing the fruit only in the following 

 spring. This explains why it is useless to dig out a flowering 

 Amaryllis bulb for the purpose of sending it to Europe with the 

 expectation that it should blossom again during the summer. It has 

 nad no time to form its vegetative organs and to store up the material 

 necessary for the production of the flower. Several handsome orchids, 

 which are in blossom just now, belong to this group, namely the blue 

 Disa graminifolia and the bright scarlet Disa ferruginea, both bear- 

 ing their flowers on a reed-like stem, the leaves having died at the 

 beginning of the summer. 



There are a good many more very interesting questions connected with 

 these bulbous plants ; for instance, the various arrangements by means 

 of which the bulbs and tubers are protected against the pressure of 

 the hard ground, contracting during the dry season. This point, 

 however, must now be left undiscussed, as it is necessary to pass over 

 to that part of the vegetation which does not disappear at the end of 

 the rainy season. 



Leaving aside the annuals which die off altogether and spring up 

 again from seeds as soon as rain has fallen, we have to mention those 

 shrubby plants which meet the difficulty by tactics similar to those of 

 the bulbs. They put forth their leaves only during the season which 

 guarantees them a satisfactory supply of water, shedding them after- 

 wards and passing the rest of the year in a dormant state. The 

 celebrated Testudinaria Elephantipes is a plant of this description 

 whose wooden trunk resembles an immense tuber from which the thin 

 trailing twigs spring only during the rainy season. Then there are 

 : several shrubby Pelargoniums and their nearest ally, the Sarcocaulon 

 (the candlebush), which during the dry time of the year show only 

 bare sticks, but when the rain happens to fall, it puts forth leaves and 

 bears h°.ndsome flowers. The Cape Peninsula does not possess many 

 such plants ; very naturally they are more frequently found in the dryer 

 parts of the colony, like the Karoo, Namaqualand, &c. One shrub of 

 this group is also largely used here for hedges, namely, a Lyeium, the 

 s so-called Wolf's doom. I remember full well the impression these 



