99 



towards the south and centre ; and towards the uorth with 

 Hyphaene ventricosa, Copaiferd mopane, and other tropical 

 species becoming denser and passing into open forest. 



The grasses in the southern portion of this area show that 



"the veld is closely connected with that of the Central and 

 Eastern regions. The chief species are: Anthistiria imherhis, 

 Andropogon contortus, A. Uchaemmn var. radicans, Eragrostis 



•curvula, E. atherstonei, E. cjiloromelas, E. lehmanniana, 

 Trichopterix flavida, Aristida stipoides var. meridionalis, with 



here and there apparently an admixture of the species named 



in the previous section. 



D. The NoRTiiEEN Portions are, however, so much more 

 tropical, and include so many new species, that they must 

 ■certainly be considered to form a distinct region altogether. 

 The tribe Paniceae becomes very abundant, and though the 

 genus Aristida is still well represented the species are different. 

 The following are the species for Amboland, recorded by 

 Schinz : Andropogon contortus, A. gat/an xs var. cordofanus, 

 A. ischaemum var. radicans, A. narditx var. marginatus, A. 

 schinsri, Perotis latifolia, P. vaginafii, Tragus herteroanus, 

 Panicum hrachyurum, P. colonum, P. laevifoliuvi var. 

 amhoense, P. nigropedatuiv, P. rnutanenii, P. sagittae folium, 

 P trichopus, P. xanthnleucum, Tricholaena rosea, Setaria 

 nppendiculata, S. verficillata, Pennisetum myiiriis, P. spica- 

 fum, Aristida alopecuroides, A. gtacillima, A. pi'odigiosa, 

 A. stipitata, A. stipoides var. meridionalis, A. tiniplumis, 

 Cynodon dactylon, Wilttommia annua, W. sarmentosa, 

 Chloris harhata, Dactylocteniuvi aegyptiacum var. mncronn- 

 tum, Pogonarthria squarrosa, Schmidtia pappoph or aides, S. 

 quinqueseta, Triraphis fleckii, T. schinzii, Elytrophorus 

 fflobularis, Microchloa caffra, Diplachne fusca, Eragrostis 

 curvula, E. dintevi, E. lappula var. divaricata, E. lepto- 

 calymma, E. membranacea, E. superha, E. viscosa. 



It is clear that tlie Western region is by no means of a 

 uniform ecological (climatic) type. A great portion of it is 

 desert, but there are transitions to a comparatively mesophytic 

 flora in the north. In the south, there are great sandy areas, 

 which as the rainfall increases eastward, pass into the Sand 

 Veld grassland of the Kalahari. Such sandy tracts are, how- 

 ever, interrupted by areas of so-called hard veld with a stony 

 surface occupied by a Karroo flora. Patches of Karroo occur 

 even north of the Orange River, and the boundaries of that 

 region as laid down by Bolus cannot be maintained, in fact. 



