70 MEMOIR OF DR. EARVE1. 



go to Table Mountain, arching over the mountain rills in 

 inimitable gracefulness, with the airiest branches, and the most 

 delicate fresh green pinnate leaves. It is really an object to 

 stand and look at, till your eyes overflow with that mixed feeling 

 of gratitude and love that the sight of an exquisite production 

 of nature inspires. Then the Todea Afrieana is perfectly noble. 

 It occupies the same systematic place with us as to structure, 

 though different in habit, that the Osmunda does with you. 

 Splendid pinnatifido pinnate lanceolate fronds, six to ten feet 

 high, standing in circles from shaggy bases of a firm shiny 

 texture. Are they not lovely ? Adiantum very common on the 

 hills, in shady, moist places, and exquisitely beautiful. Even 

 our humble plants, such as rushes, are noble-looking. Take for 

 instances a Juncus, which Thunberg has named J. serraius, but 

 which ought to be J. palmetta, for it is not only like a miniature 

 palm, but is called palm by the common people. I must 

 try to put it before you. First get into the midst of a black 

 bog full of cobras and puff adders. This is its habitat — but who 

 would think of snakes when there is a grove of rushes in sight ? 

 From the ground rises a black and rough trunk, as thick as the 

 leg of a lusty son of Adam, three to six feet in height. From 

 the summit of this springs a crown of large broad leaves, like 

 that of a pine-apple on an immense scale, and from the centre of 

 these rises a panicle of flowers excessively branched, and very 

 graceful, some three or four feet high, perhaps more. Alto- 

 gether it is a noble plant. 



What next? Lobelias in profusion, blue and yellow, which 

 are very puzzling and variable in character. I have a new one, 

 about an inch high, with white flowers not much larger than a 

 pin's head, and very like those of Montia fontana. I call it 

 Lobelia montioides. The ground begins to be carpeted with 

 Liglitfootia, a beautiful little under shrub, with blue starry flowers. 

 It is nearly related to Campanula. What ! Shrubby campanula? 

 Yes. Almost everything here is shrubby. Nearly all the 

 Composite, for instance. We have tree-like groundsels. 



I need not say anything of heaths and geraniums, for these 

 you have by heart already, except that the bulbous geraniums 

 plague me greatly. Authors appear to have mischievously 

 multiplied them without any regard to character. Many of the 

 dull-flowered are deliciously scented, like the night-blowing 



