180 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA 



brilliant colouring as it is striking in the richness 

 of its varieties. It would be impossible to imagine 

 anything more beautiful than these bright, and at 

 the same time exquisitely harmonised colour effects, 

 and it would be a task in itself to enumerate a 

 fraction of the many flowering plants which literally 

 strew one's path, among which the more easily 

 recognised are pale mauve irises, deep red gladioli, 

 pink anemones, gentians, pretty miniature sun- 

 flowers of the coreopsis family, sulphur-coloured 

 hibiscuses, leafless amomums — their blooms on a 

 level with the ground — marguerites, mallows, a 

 delicious white clematis, and a hundred more. 



The grasses and rushes of Zambezia must com- 

 prise in their wide range considerably over a hundred 

 species, the greater portion of which are probably 

 but little if at all known. The largest variety of 

 the former must, I suppose, be the wild banana, 

 found growing somewhat above the elevation of 

 the plains, and away from their intense heat. They 

 are handsome plants, and their tender transparent 

 green leaves afford a refreshing contrast to their 

 usually somewhat grey and sombre neighbours. 

 They often grow to a size considerably larger than 

 the varieties cultivated for the sake of the fruit. 

 It is perhaps not generally known that the latter 

 only bear one bunch of bananas, and should then 

 be cut down to make way for the younger plants. 

 The juice of the banana is said to be a remedy for 

 dysenteric attacks. We now come to the beau- 

 tiful, spiteful Spear Grass {Phragmites communis), 

 which surrounds nearly all our inland waters. Here 

 we have a bright grass-green growth, which springs 



