91 



the mosses. Several species of Pentaschistis come in about the 

 same time, e.g., P. tortuosa, P. pallescens, P. thunbergii, 

 P. angustifolia. 



4. Soon soil gathers in sufficient depth to support taller 

 species and the mosses disappear. The succession is a very 

 complex one, and in the final stages the Macchia has an extra- 

 ordinary admixture of species. It is only during the earlier 

 low growing heath stages where it is possible to point to any 

 species such as Blaeria ericoides as being dominant. In the 

 same way, with regard to the grasses, it is only in the earlier 

 stages, that any of them grow socially. Of those that do so, 

 the genus EhrJi.arta is the most prominent. In certain ravines 

 of the Great Winter Iloek, Ehrharta ramosa — a leafless suf- 

 frutescent, very xerophytic, deep-rooted species, is completely 

 dominant, forming an almost pure growth. At the top of 

 Table Mountain, near Maclear's Beacon, there is a grassy flat 

 representing an early stage in the succession with Ehrharta 

 setacea dominant and with other species of grasses mixed, viz., 

 Pentaschistis tortuosa, P. thunbergii, P. pallescens, P. 

 angustifolia, and a species of Penta metis. Ehrharta aphylla 

 is very common on Table Mountain, usually among the 

 Macchia shrubs, but occasionally in some of the upper ravines 

 it grows sub-socially. Danthonia macrantha sometimes covers 

 rock ledges, and steep slanting rock basins forming small 

 socies. 



In the final stages where tJiere is an admixture of hun- 

 dreds of different species of sclerophyllous shrubs, belonging 

 to the orders Proteaceae, Ericaceae, Restiaceae, Compositae, 

 and to such genera as Rhus, Cliffortia, Passerina, Psoralea, 

 and where there are innumerable herbaceous forms also, 

 orchids, bulbous monocotyledons, etc., the grasses are well 

 enough represented, but they grow in isolated tufts. As a 

 matter of fact, hardly any of the Macchia specie^ grow other- 

 wise than in isolated clumps, and the explaining of this char- 

 acteristic feature in itself presents an interesting problem. 



In the tribe Aveneae, which, as already pointed out, is 

 so peculiarly rich in endemic species at the Cape, the genus 

 Danthonia includes a number of important species D. striata, 

 D. disticha, I), lanata, D. lupulina, T). elephantina, D. 

 papposa, D. cincta, and TJ. curva. Pentaschistis is represented 

 by P. cnrvifolia, P. aristidoides, P. pallescens, P. colorata, 

 P. argentea, P- capensis, P. acinosa, P. aspera, P. angusti- 

 folia, P. thunbergii, P. aeroides, and other rarer species. The 

 five endemic species of Pentameris are P. speciosa, P. thuarii. 



